Finished Lace!

Here's the first counterpane...I think I could do better about controlling the tension on the yarnovers, but in general, I'm pretty happy with it! It ended up being exactly 12 inches square and I ought to get 3-4 of them out of one skein of this yarn (alpaca-silk from knitpicks.com) Turns out I was having both problems the other night...there was a mistake in the pattern, but I had made one too. :)



I don't know if you can see the flower in the center with it all stretched out to block, but it came out well.

Cotton Sweater

OK, the third time's the charm, right? I've tried to post this a couple of times and given up. Here is the cotton sweater I was working on. I'm not completely thrilled with it...it's just ok. I rebuilt the neck twice and it's still too big. I can't decide if I'm going to go for a drawstring or put it in the Christmas drawer for someone it suits (and fits) better. Here it is!

too tired...

I know better than to work on lace when I'm tired...I needed a break from the Tunisian lace (which is still coming along) so I decided to try this quilt square. It's a beautiful counterpane and I'm doing it in lace weight alpaca and silk. I like the way it's turning out, but there's a problem somewhere about half way through and I can't decide tonight if it's the pattern or if I made a mistake. I'll look at it in the morning...

Also OTN: a baby raglan for my cousin in the same colors as before, but stripey this time, the Tunisian lace scarf, and cotton pram coat. Oh, and I finished the cotton sweater for myself! I want to wash it and then I'll photograph and post pics tomorrow.

creeping along....

on the lace. It'll get there. It would help if I'd learn to count! I finally last night had a brain storm and took a set of highlighters to the chart. What a difference! You'd think since I spend all day long trying to find easier ways for other people to learn things that I'd apply it occasionally in my own life. Apparently not often enough!

Lace

I've knitted lace before, but always in worsted weight (or close to). I ordered this beautiful lace weight alpaca from Knitpicks in a dark blue and decided to give some real lace knitting a try. I'm making a lightweight scarf for myself. Here's the pattern I chose. It's called Tunisian Lace and it's going pretty well. Here are the pics so far...



and here's a close up of the lace pattern. So far, so good!

The whole set!

Here's the whole set and finished and put together. I think it worked pretty well! I've got enough yarn for one more set, but it will be striped. There's not enough of any one yarn to make it solid colored.




I'm swatching out a pattern for a lace scarf right now. Here's a picture of the first run-through. This is just some scrap cotton, the final thing will be in lace weight alpaca. This is a vintage lace edging pattern, so I need to rewrite it so that it looks less like an edging...it's hard to tell what it is right now, but I'll keep posting as I figure it out.

Instant Gratification

I always thought that hats were the ultimate in quick knitting gratification, but I was wrong! I found the answer tonight....




I did them both this evening in just a couple of hours. They're to go with the raglan sweater, of course. I couldn't be happier with how they've turned out! Itty bitty teeeeeny socks!! There are four whole rows in the gusset, and ten in the body of the sock...they're really fun to knit :) You probably can't really see the size from these pictures, but I guess they're about 4 inches from top to bottom.

Baby Raglan

I'm still looking for the perfect buttons...but here's the first sweater. It's made from a knitty.com pattern (mostly...I changed some things, but what's the fun of following a pattern exactly?) and Knitpicks Shine Worsted yarn...which I LOVE.




It's a typical day here at the house...students due any minute, a small noisy dog growling at me because I won't pick up the other end of the EXTREMELY slimy and nasty tug rope. Here's the big news, though...the SOFA is coming today! Hooray!!! A comfy place to sit upstairs and knit! I've been sitting on the floor upstairs because Ed likes to play computer games in the evening and I'm knitting....it's portable. We finally ran across a really good sale a few weeks ago, though and I'm soooo excited!!

First post

It's been a hell of a week here...trips to the doctor, trips to the vet, people moving (into my house!), going out of town, back to the doctor, house closings, cooking for extra people, did I mention the doctor?, projects due (which of course are not finished), teaching...Everyone needs something right now and I don't feel equiped to deal with any of it at the moment. My sanity is being compromised in a big way! So, I've been knitting. Every moment that I can. Furiously. This lace scarf was started and completed last weekend while we were out of town. This is a one-hit wonder out of one skein of stash yarn. I think it's the Wensleydale Longwool. It's not really long, but it'll do.





Here's a close up of the lace. I haven't blocked it yet, so it will look a little cleaner (for lack of a better word) when I do.




I finished that Tuesday night, I guess...and the week was just starting! Luckily, I got my knitpicks order in the mail on tuesday and started a baby raglan sweater for yet another pregnant friend. I should be able to put this together and finish it completely tonight. Then, on to the hat and teeeny little socks that will go with it!




I think it's turning out pretty well! I love those colors together and it's not
quite the typical boy baby blue sort of thing. So, tonight will be a little stripey hat and a pair of baby socks with all three colors in blocks (green heel, blue toe, white sock sort of thing)

Also OTN: baby pram coat in impossibly small gauge that I needed a break from and sweater for myself that I have to re-think because the neck in the pattern is way too big