Ze Shawl, she es done!!

Isn't it just gorgeous!? I love it. It's a shame it's going out tomorrow in the mail. But, she's a pretty lady on her way to a photo shoot on Thursday. They just grow up ..er knit up..so fast don't they?







This is a nice close up of the lace. I'll have a few pics later with her unpinned.


Ah yes, and you can't forget my pincushion. I made this from an awesome template found on craftzine.com. It's just the template for the outline (I used my own creativity when embroidering him).


Update:
Unpinned!!




Oh and I got tagged by Val. It's a birthday meme where you have to list three event, two births and one Holiday that share the same day as your birthday.


Events:
1564- Shakespeare was christened.

1865- Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, in Virginia.

1962- NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.

Birthdays:

1962- Debra Wilson, American actress and comedian.

1963- Jet Li, Chinese martial artist.

Holidays:

World Intellectual Property Day (as of 2001)

This is actually pretty fun. If you want to try it..go to Wikipedia and type in the month and day of your birthday, omit year.

I'm still here, don't worry :D.

No..I did not drop off the face of the earth. I've actually been so busy with writing up designs, knitting, being a Mommy, being a maid and just life in general. I know I said I'd have the shawl knitted by the end of last week. Let me just say, THAT did not happen. Although I'm almost done with it, a few more pattern repeats and she'll be finished...finally.


The shawl was really hard to get through. Not because it was a shawl, but because I've knit the pattern 3 times in a row already and I think I'm suffering severely from "been there done that" syndrome. And it seems pushing yourself to do something makes it even harder to plug through.
Once I just gave in and stopped fighting it, it was much easier and I actually got to enjoying it again.


Tell you what though, knit in the Alpaca Silk, it's wonderfully soft! My son loves to rub it against his face as I'm knitting it.

I've also been trying something a little new with the spinning. I wanted to make lace weight and wanted to do it as thin as possible, so I tried the hooked spinning. Basically you take a piece of wire/clothes hanger and bend it into a shepherd's hook and pull out a few fibers while you spin.


It works nicely actually, but spinning while drafting is a challenge. It's not as easy as a drop spindle since the spindle can spin freely on it's own as you join new fibers. This is a challenge and takes a lot of patience since you don't get a lot right away.


See the roving in the back? Isn't that gorgeous!? I love the yellow mixed with the blue. I've tried looking for it on the Blue Goose Glen website, but I haven't found it. I would LOVE to find a color like that again. This was from a sampler pack of different colored rovings. (It was a great way for me to see all the colors up close and personal.) If anyone can tell me where I can get a roving like that, let me know! :D

Shawl update

Well, the shawl is almost done. I know it doesn't look long enough, but another 16 pattern repeats and she will be done and then blocked to her full potential. I'm hoping to have her done by this weekend. This is knit in Buckingham from Plymouth. It's soooooo incredibly soft.

It's a CO of 95 stitches instead of the recommended 55 for the scarf. It knits up to be really wide. When one edge held to my neck the other reaches past my elbow. Ok...not exact measurements so far, but when she's blocked, then you'll know.


It took me a little bit since I've been working on other projects for Plymouth as well. Here's a cute little baby sock. It's going to be offered in 6-9 months and 12 month sizes. I love it. So does oogie.



Oh, and here's some more pics of the yard behind my apartment. Yeah, I only wish this was my yard. I think she's strayed a little far from her forest and into the wrong part of town, since there's a highway right beyond those trees. I don't think she crossed it though..so no worries. :D

Hey all

Let's see how's my week been? Pretty good actually, I've got a LOT to share. Apparently La Dentelle Belle (or La Belle Dentelle..yeah I've got to change that soon) was a big hit by all of you. I'm so glad that you liked it! It was such a big hit, that Plymouth Yarns bought the pattern and asked if I would knit up a scarf for their new yarn called Buckingham. (Don't worry, it's still going to be offered as a free pattern on my site :D) It's an alpaca/silk blend. Oooooo it's nice.


After I started talking with the nice lady at Plymouth, she asked if I would like to design for them. How could I refuse!!! So...she sent me out a bag of each of their colors. Wow, it's just gorgeous stuff. I love the yarn.



It's so soft! So soft in fact that my little Oogie sneaks over to my yarn stash and pulls out a skein and rubs it against his face. I've found him sitting in the corner out of view and just holding a skein to his little chubby cheeks. I think that's an omen I should be designing a baby blanket?

For right now, it's offered in only 3 colors. But, in July they'll be coming out with 5-7 more colors. I strongly suggest this yarn, I'm in love!

So the lady at Plymouth wanted an awesome scarf done in the rose color, and a shawl done in the natural/cream color. (I REALLY need a ball winder. They don't look it, but there's a LOT of yarn in one skein and it takes forever to wind these if you do it by hand!) Here's the finished scarf below. One skien made this gorgeous scarf!


I know you can't see it here but I'm almost finished with the first skien. It's taking a while since this shawl is really wide. I casted on 95 stitches instead of the 55 required from the pattern. Right now it's not blocked, but I have gotten really far on it. I've been knitting on it a lot!

I've also been working on some other projects for Plymouth, so my "me" knitting time has been really cut down. Not that it's a big deal, I mean, who would complain about being paid to knit!?

I've also been doing some spinning. I thought that my bright purple and black Colonial blends would look awesome spun together. And they do! Sadly, again, I didn't spin enough for a hat. I really wish I would start getting it right.



Oh well, instead though I'm taking a hint from Val, she's been knitting these and I thought that it would be awesome in the purple/black yarn. I'm going to knit it up for myself ( I don't think I'll look good in it, but gosh darn it, I'm going to wear it!!)

Here's a better view of the colors..


I'm also trying to knit up the Flower Basket shawl from interweave knits. And it's kind of disappointing me. I love the shawl, and I'm going to finish it, but it's kinda bulky. When I first knit it up, I used one skien of Clematis Heather on size 2 needles. Then, I looked closely at the pattern (ok..I started it at 11 at night when I was REALLY tired.) and found out the she used #7 needles with TWO strands of yarn held together.


Needless to say..I was kinda bummed. Seeing how far I got, I had to frog it and start over. Now, I'm not sure I like how bulky it is. I was so looking forward to something light and whimsical. Maybe if I just work through this and finish it I'll feel differently, but I'm confused right now about it.

Handspun Yarn

I've found this out about myself. I LOVE plying yarn. It's so quick and easy. I had a bunch of balls of singles laying around that I thought I should start plying. They were small balls and I didn't think they'd amount to much (ok..you can giggle at that comment if you want :D) but look at these! I can make a hat!


This is from the Lilac colored Merino and English Garden Merino. I love this. You can't really see it here, but the green is more purplish green. It's great. I'm not sure what to make out of it though, I don't think there's enough here to make an adult sized hat.


This one is great too. It's two different colored green Merino multi-colored hand spun. One is green with red and yellow, the other is a sage green. It actually looks really nice. Again, not enough to make a hat I don't think. I haven't measured it, so I'm not sure on the exact amount.


A special request from my daughter. She wanted a red and white striped yarn for a hat. It's cute, very pepperminty. A Merino Colonial blend.


Lilac and White Merino ply. There's tons of this stuff. I could probably make a skinny long scarf out of this. I'm tempted to make a hat I think. Finally able to make something from my hand spun that I can wear. This is so gratifying. I just have to find a way to wear it in summer. I could sit in a nice air conditioned building just for the sake of showing off my new hat. :D

I must ply more. I have loads of different colors and so many ideas. I'm going to have so many hats for winter. :D

Update:

I just had to show this off.

This...

...became this.


What is it you ask. Well, it's an ear warmer of course. Not enough wool to make a hat, but just enough to cover your ears.

Needle: size 10 dpn.

Gauge: 3 sts = 1"

Yarn: Bulky weight (I used my own hand spun plied)

Measurements: 20 (22)" circumference

C.O. 6o (66) sts

K in k2, p2 ribbing in the round for 3 (3.5)".

B.O.

See how insanely easy that is?!
This honestly will take a half an hour to make. It's great for road trips, a nice change from intense knitting projects, a quick gift, or something simple to make using up small amounts of leftover yarn. I used my own hand spun yarn to make this beauty up. I'm itching to make more.

La Dentelle Belle Gallery

Hey! Have you knit La Dentelle Belle scarf? Send it to me and I'll upload into the gallery!

This beauty is from Strega's Needles.


This pretty one is from Carole at Carole knits.


Another addition to the Gallery. This beautiful belle by Monica.



This one is from Anoma Lea. She added a neat lace ribbing in the middle instead of the traditional lace. Check out some of the other pics here!



This one is from Monika.
This is done in a Merino/cotton blend.

A new Hat

Sorry about the short hiatus. I actually meant to make a new post and reply to emails yesterday but I got stuck with a darn cold. How do you catch a cold in 90 degree weather?! So, I just spent most of yesterday laying on the couch like a lump and then sleeping the rest of the evening. Luckily I feel a little better today :D.

Aww...isn't he just cute? You know how I was afraid that the mothers in the grocery store would give me the evil eye? In all actuality I got so many compliments for the "cool mohawk". Even my doctor loved it. The only questions I really got about it was, "how did you get him to sit still?" Women would come up to me in the store and literally just swoon "Awwww..the mohawk is just cute!!" My son loved the attention to say the least. I think some mothers were planning on giving their baby a new do.


But, when sporting a macho mohawk isn't really all that cute and I need to hide it, Kirsten sent me this awesome hat! Doesn't he look just darling in it? I love it, it's so colorful. Oogie liked it, see him posing..I think he's going to be a model. Or a geek (he's already learned how to turn off the surround sound.).


It's also pretty stretchy, as you can see. Which is great since it'll be able to grow with him. He really liked chewing on it.

My husband even got to pose with him. Isn't that a nice beard, it's imported all the way from Canada. :)


I also got tagged from Jacque and Cara. Which is great, I'm glad people want to know about me.
So here goes, 7 things unknown about me...

1. My childhood heroine was Wonder Woman. I used to beg my mother to cut out stars from tag board and then I would tape them to my forehead and wrists. My jump rope was my lasso of truth. I use to run around in our garden "apprehending criminals" ..which in all actuality were just pear trees and raspberry bushes.

2. I had to trick my mother into teaching me how to knit. She taught me once when I was 8, but I forgot soon after that, since then she hadn't wanted to pick up the needles. In order to "convince" my mother into teaching me how to knit I had to make her want to. I tried for a couple years mind you. Finally, I took her into the yarn shop in town and she got to see all the fabulous wool and the gorgeous Norwegian sweater patterns. She bought two skeins of yarn and a pair of needles. That night she taught me how to knit. :D

3. I love babies, but I couldn't stand being pregnant. I don't know how some women get the "glow". Me? I was happy about having a baby, but the pregnancy side effects drove me nuts. I got every single symptom you could get. Morning sickness, hormone fluxes, bloody nose (did you know you got a bloody nose..neither did I), frothy foamy mouth, excessive food cravings. Believe me, if there was a symptom I got it. I was not the picture of beauty, I was more like Jabba the Hut. :D

4. I wore my P.J.s to school all the time when I was younger. While the cheerleaders would get all beautified and plaster coats of what looked like polyurethane on their hair, I would just make sure I had enough time to shower and comb my hair. I loved lounge pants (I still do) and I figured I would rather wear something comfy and be happy than constrict myself into something that barely fit for the sake of beauty.

5. I've had my cat for 10 almost 11 years. I actually owned his mother and she got pregnant and had a litter of 4 kittens. He was actually my least favorite of the bunch. He drove me nuts, all he did was meow for food constantly and eat. He was such a little porker that even his mother couldn't carry him in her mouth, he actually dragged on the ground between her legs as she strained to pull him back to the nest. He actually became my best friend growing up, although he's still a whiny chunk and I have no idea what I'd do without him.

6. I could be anywhere in the United States and there will be someone who knows my mother or someone from my mother's side of the family. This still is amazing to me. I remember I was doing flu shots with her at a Walgreens, (I did administration..not the shot giving) and there was an elderly man who struck up a conversation with us. It actually went something like this.."Yah, ya know, my brother Sven from Cochrane was up yesterday." "Sven from Cochrane? Is that Ulla's son??" "Ya, you betcha" "Oh! I know Sven! I'm Alton's daughter!" "Uff da! How's Alton doing. He's ok ya?" "Ya, you betcha" How this happens I have no idea.

7. My family's idea of a good time is making the all time coveted lefse. (which is good) And then eating ludefisk...(which is not.) Amazingly there's a divide in my family. The traditional people who eat ludefisk on their lefse, and the black sheep who just eat it with butter and sugar. The ludefisk eaters are "ellite" and look down on the sugar spreaders as defilers of the holy lefse. In order to be accepted into this collective Uff da consciousness you had to make the right of passage...making lefse and then eat it with ludefisk.