Knitting lace for Christmas...

Annis shawlette in Wiggly handspun
on the needles

As time goes on, I find that I enjoy the challenge of lace.  This lace shawlette is one I've done before - in my own handspun.  I showed you a picture of it in progress, at about the point where the current shawlette is on my needles now.  This is the Annis pattern from Susanna IC.  Granted that my handspun is a heavier weight than the yarn I'm using now - but the shawlette really turned out well.  Looking back, I never showed you the finished project, so here is a shot of it on the blocking board.  It is pinned out while still wet from its bath so that it will dry with all the gorgeous lace pulled out flat.  As you can see from the "before" shot on the needles, it isn't impressive as it is in progress.

Annis shawlette in Wiggly handspun
 on the blocking board

This is a relatively simple pattern, and I love the striping that happens in the stockinette section on the shawlette.  I blocked it into a crescent shape, thinking that the tails would stay in place better.  The nice thing is that I can change my mind and reblock it in a different shape when I wash it next time.

I took a couple shots on the dress form to show it on a person-shaped form.  I like the way it turned out.  I pinned it in place fully open, but in reality, I'd probably put the ends over my shoulders for the warmth of double thickness on my neck and shoulders.

Annis shawlette - back view

Annis shawlette - front view

Another way I could wear this is with the wide part across the front and the pointed ends pulled to the front as well.  Didn't take a picture that way though.  I guess I didn't think of that while I had the dress form out. 





Mom's Annis shawlette in Malabrigo

In any event, I'm working this one again in Malabrigo that I bought for my Mom about a year ago.  We were planning to knit this together and the lace was a bit too intimidating for her.  I'm doing it for her Christmas present this year.  I'm ten rows into the lace pattern, and the yarn is far different and quite a bit finer than my handspun.  I don't have the ball band from this lovely yarn, but it is mostly a lovely grape color with some blue shading.  Since it is still on the needles, I've pinned it out to show off the lace patterning.  The first set of nupps is done... not my favorite, but once I started using a small latch hook to finish the second row I was much happier with the outcome.  The nupps take two rows, the first row is to create seven stitches from one and the second row takes the seven stitches back to a single stitch.  This leaves a small bubble of yarn on that spot in the pattern.  There will be a chevron of five nupps that follows the points in the lacework.  Nice effect, so I'll do them for Mom's shawlette.

 

Here's the fun part.  I found some interesting soft laceweight yarn in a pleasant variegated gray to black.  This is Patons Lace in the Patina colorway.  Slightly fuzzy and mostly acrylic (80% acrylic, 10% mohair, 10% wool), so I was worried about how it would hold up to blocking.  I knitted up a swatch of the lace pattern and used beads in place of the nupps.  I just did a loop around the needle tip as a place holder of sorts where the nupp would appear.  That loop was unwound and I threaded a relatively large round bead onto the loop.  I like the result, and it gives a pleasant weight to the edge of the sample.  These beads are 6mm size and are just a bit larger than I really want unless I find some that really speak to me.  I was sampling to find the largest beads I'd use in this pattern and I think I found this to be about the maximum size.  I washed and blocked the swatch and it seems to be holding its shape relatively well.  The photo was shot with the swatch loose on a smooth surface, and it hasn't pulled back much so I'm calling it a success.

New stash...

Gosh, it has been a while since a yarn grabbed me like this.  I found some really pretty ruffling yarn advertised in a catalog from Mary Maxim.  Most of their things are way to cutesy for my taste, but they had several varieties of this self-ruffling yarn that I wanted to have a look at "in person" to see how they worked.  I went to every craft shop in town, and of course, none of them had any of the types - not even the Red Heart version. Sigh....
So, I went back to the catalog and tried to place an order for the least expensive version - Red Heart Sashay - and it was out of stock!  Bigger sigh...
So, I went for the higher priced version and placed an order.  Hope it arrives soon... it looks so nice in the pictures.
Of course, with all that yarn shopping a few skeins followed me home.  I found this lovely, fuzzy Patons Lace with Sequins in the Amethyst colorway:

Pretty stuff, but as with most sparkly yarns, this one is a bit camera shy.  The sequins are a deep color that shimmers between red, fuschia and violet.  Very pretty indeed!  I'm thinking of a shrug or a vest with this, the balls are lace weight, and with all that glittering, I'll want a smooth knit to show it off to it's best advantage.

I'll swatch it later on, since I seem to have caught the "cast on" bug in the last little while.

Here's the beginning of my next sweater - at least I hope it is, the swatch is feeling a little light and loose and it isn't at gauge yet.  But here's the picture of what I'm planning for the next sweater.

The pattern is from Sunday Knits and is called Tapestry.  Very romantic, lots of cables and lace and knit in the round up to the armsceye.  I especially like the way the buttons are nestled into the cables on the front.  I chose a superwash fingering weight yarn from Knit Picks called Stroll in the colorway Twinkle Heather.  I'll keep going on the swatch and see if I like it better as it grows in size.  There are some people that say superwash wools don't feel good to them.  I really rather like the soft hand that this treatment gives the fiber.  Some wools feel a bit scratchy to me - even Merino sometimes.  I typically wear pure regular wool sweaters over a cotton turtleneck for comfort.  The superwash I can wear in socks on my bare skin without a problem.  For instance, those new slippers I made have both kinds of wool in them, superwash on the tops and feltable wool for the soles.  I find them more comfortable if I wear thin socks inside the slippers.  Doing this should also help improve the wearing life of the slippers as well, so it becomes a win-win situation.  This being said, I've started another pair of slipper socks since I adore the first pair and needed another "easy" knitting project for when I'm somewhere that I can knit on something simple and still be able to pay attention to other things going on... like at church.  So here's a work-in-progress shot of the slippers:

Since it takes two strands held together for the tops, I wound off a small ball of the sock yarn, trying to match up the patterning so there are some coherent stripes on the tops.  I like the effect I'm getting so far.  The match isn't perfect, but with two yarns running together the stripes are softened a bit.  So far, so good.  I'm just starting the top of the foot on the first slipper.  These take me about twenty hours from start to finish.  The yarn is Wisdom Yarns Phoenix in the Hayden colorway.  Superwash wool and nylon blend.  Cast on with size 7 needles and switch to size 4 for the tops.  I'll use my leftover Wool of the Andes Worsted in Fairy Tale for the heels and soles - I had a few balls left from the sweater and they match this yarn pretty nicely.