A little more Lace

Balmoral is finally finished!


Details:
Pattern: Balmoral Thistle from Marianne Kinzel’s Second book of Modern Lace Knitting
Started: February 2007
Finished: August 2007
Yarn: Approximately 9oz of JaggerSpun Super Fine Merino 2/18 in “a very subtle and subdued” Raspberry
Needles: 3mm
Diameter: over 60”

Because of the size, I had a really difficult time blocking it. The yarn felt a bit rough while knitting it but I’m pleased with the final result. I didn't use a flash but the colour is still coming out very bright. It's actually a nice raspberry colour and not very bright at all.


I tired but wasn't able to get a good picture of the entire shawl.


Here is a close up of the edging I added.

In case you haven’t already heard, the Princess shawl is now available. I’ve already placed my order. I want to finish the Spider Queen and the Wedding Ring starting on the Princess shawl. However, it’s going to take all my strength not to cast on as soon as the pattern arrives.

Also, here is a pre-blocked close up of the Bird’s Eye shawl.

You can really see what the yarn looks like.

Happy knitting!

A little lace

My Bird’s Eye Shawl



Details:
80” – long edge of triangle
40” – center back to tip
Yarn: Filatura Di Crosa Superior, 70% Cashmere/30% Silk: 2 balls
Needles: 3.75 mm needles

It was inspired by the free Bird’s Eye shawl pattern on the Heirloom Knitting site, and the Curved shawl in Victorian Lace today. Why didn’t I just use on of these patterns? Well initially I was just going to use Sharon Millers free pattern but I wanted an edging. However, I didn’t want to knit on an edging after knitting the body. This shawl is knitted from the bottom up and the edging is knitted at the same time. This avoids having to worry about whether there will be enough yarn left over to do an edging. You just have to make sure you leave enough yarn to cast off.

There is a review of the yarn on Knitters Review.

I enjoyed working with this yarn so much that the shawl just flew off my needles. It went so fast I never even got to post progress pictures, so here is one.


I'm really happy with the results.

As for the socks, I've decided to provide a pattern for a simple toe up sock with a short rowed toe and a heel. That should be more than enough for a two hour class.

Knitting Socks and Designing

These socks were inspired by a free MagKnits pattern.
What do you think of them?

I’m teaching a sock knitting class primarily focusing on shot-rowed heels and toes. So, I decided to make a simple toe-up sock with a short-rowed toe and heel, for demonstration purposes.




Well what I ended up with was far from a simple sock. I got so carried away, I even short-rowed the ribbing!



When I showed it to Svetlana (the owner of my LYS), she was shocked. I was told, and rightly so, that if I showed these socks, I would have to provide a pattern.

Her comment made me stop and think. Should I have to provide patterns for my original work, simply because I show my work? In a class setting it makes sense to not show items without providing instructions on how to make them. However should this be a general rule?

I love to knit. This past year I’ve been experimenting a lot with designing and have concluded that I also love to design. My head is constantly filled with ideas of things I’d like to make and techniques I’d like to experiment with. I’m just not sure how much pattern writing and publishing of my patterns I want to do. I suppose it's something to think about.

Anyway, for now, I’ve taken the first steps toward pattern writing and provided the Fundamentals of Lace Scarf as a free pattern.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments on my sweater. Who knows, I might just write up this pattern also.

Happy knitting everyone.

Seeing Red

Seeing Red Cardigan
Details:
Started: August 2007
Finished: September 2007
Pattern: My own, based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s seamless yoke sweater and a cable pattern from my old Harmony Guide stitchtionary
Materials: Approximately 14 balls of Filatura Di Crosa, Zara, colour 1493
Needles: 3.5mm

Yep, I know my head is cut off, but it was a bad hair day and I really looked awful. Anyway, I think this shows the sweater much better.

This cardigan started out with me deciding it was time to clean out the out-of-control stash. I had 10 balls of Zara that I’d bought a couple of years ago, without having any project in mind. I tend to do that a lot. It might just be the reason for my out-of-control stash. Anyway, it was time to either knit it, sell it or give it away. Well I decided to knit it. I knew that 10 balls would not be enough to make a sweater for myself, especially since I planned to incorporate a cable pattern. Also since I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do, I figured I should get some more yarn. Luckily my LYS had four balls left in the same dye lot. I was seeing red everywhere so I decided to call it my Seeing Red cardigan.



Front and sleeve detail


Yoke


It knitted up really fast and I enjoyed making it so much that I’m planning on making another sweater with cables.



It’s an Elsebeth Lavold that appeared in an old Knitters magazine, Winter 1998. The pattern calls for Lopi Lite but I’m going to use Filtes King Extra, 100% Australian Merino. It’s so much softer that Lopi. I made a sweater years ago from Lopi and swore I would never use it ever again!

No Blogging ≠ No Knitting

I’ve been a very neglectful blogger. I’m not really sure what happened and can’t believe it’s been so long since I last posted. I have however been very busy knitting, designing and learning to weave. Since I last posted, I’ve started and frogged several projects. I’ve completed a sweater that I designed myself. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d blog about it because I was seriously considering submitting it to Knitty. However, the way that I did the yoke made it very difficult to grade the pattern to different sizes. I’m also really terrible at writing patterns. Anyway, I’ll write a separate post about the sweater.




I’ve also been knitting socks. Not pairs, just single socks so I can play around with construction methods and stitch patterns.

What about lace? This blog is called The Lace Maven, after all. Well I haven’t been in the mood for anything very complicated, so there has been no addition progress on The Wedding Ring shawl. After completing three of the four borders on the Spider Queen, it has also stalled. I just don’t feel like working on it right now. On the upside, Balmoral Thistle is off the needles. I don’t know what possessed me to do a knitted on edging. It just took forever to finish the 288 edging repeats. I’m really happy with the results. I just have to find some time to block it.

Thanks everyone for commenting on my scarf pattern and wishing me well for my first ever knitting class. The lace class went very well. I had students who were eager and enthusiastic and that is always a wonderful thing. They have three weeks to work on their scarf and then we have the second part of the class. There was just too much information to cover in one 2 hour session. I’ve always respected and admired teachers but now I have even more respect for them. It is not as easy as it looks.

I've created a PDF file of the scarf pattern, but I haven't figured out how to make it available here. So if anyone would like the pattern just email me.

That’s it for now. There is so much to blog about that I don’t think I’ll go this long between posts, again.

Happy knitting!