Every time I see the name of this shawl pattern, I think “How do you knit in natural minor?”

This is the Aeolian Shawl pattern, from the Spring 09 issue of Knitty. I found it to be an interesting and engaging knit, much like the other shawl I have knit by the same designer, Laminaria. Neither shawl ever got boring.

I knit this on US size 3 needles, using a lilac colored skein of Silk Lace from Claudia Handpainted Yarns. Although the yarn is a bit pricey, I’ve used it before and know that it will hold up well. I was a bit surprised, however, to find how much the yarn shredded when I had to frog a substantial portion of the shawl. I was also displeased to find a knot and a few slubs in my skein; at this price, I do not expect to find multiple knots or other imperfections.

This pattern calls for 2250 size 8 seed beads. I upped to a size 6 bead, but reduced the number of beads used by about 80%. I generally dislike both beading and the feeling of too much “bling,” so  I included beads only on the borders, and picked which beads I wanted for impact. I have listed my reductions at the bottom of this post.

For this pattern, I used a crochet chain bind-off. As this shawl is knit in stockinette lace right up to the bind-off, I would normally be concerned about the edge rolling. However, the edge contains both a heavy amount of open lacework, the beads help to weigh the edge down to prevent curling, and pure silk tends to take a block very well, so I threw caution to the wind and used the bind-off that I thought would look nicest. So far, no curling! At the end, I had about 18 inches of yarn to spare. Given that I started out with 1100 yards, that was a little close!

This shawl was challenging to block. My first attempt to block the shawl flat was unsatisfactory.

I own two sets of blocking mats – theoretically, enough to block just about anything. However, as you can see from the photos, this shawl is just a tad oversized. The edges ran off at multiple points, and parts of the border were quite distorted. So, I folded the shawl in half along its spine.

This enabled me to spread the border sections out properly. At this point, I found that the “tail” of the shawl needed to curve out, something that would not have been possible to do had I blocked the shawl flat.

This shawl blocked out to be quite large: 88 inches along the wingspan, and 45 inches down the back. If I don’t fold the top over, it hits me right at the knee! However, with the top folded up a bit, the wings are long and weighty enough with the beads that I can throw one end over my shoulder and be confident that the shawl will stay put without a pin – nice!

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For anyone is knitting this shawl who wants to follow my bead reductions, they are as follows:

Set-up chart: no beads

Yucca chart: no beads

Transition chart: no beads

Agave chart: Center beads only on rows 3 and 5 (these make a little triangle)

Final Agave chart: Center beads only as for Agave chart.

Left edge, center edge and right edge chart: all beads.

Edge set-up chart: Beads on rows 3 and 5 only.

Main Edge chart: all beads EXCEPT for row 43. In row 43, I placed beads on the designated stitches that were knit plain, but did not place beads on the designated decrease stitches. For row 45, I placed all beads as indicated.

These stockings are from the pattern “Entrelac Socks,” by Eunny Jang, published in the Spring 07 issue of Interweave Knits. I finished these a few weeks ago, but didn’t get around to photographing them until today. Normally, I am excited to wear finished projects, or send them off to whoever they were knit for, but in this case, we have had a long stretch of 100+ degree weather and I haven’t worn any socks at all in quite some time!

I knit these with one lavendar skein of Regia 4-ply sock yarn, and two skeins of chocolate colored Lorna’s Laces, using size zero bamboo needles. I find that entrelac in general behaves much more nicely on wooden needles.

These stockings are knit toe-up. As I got close to the end of the first stocking, I found that the calf was uncomfortably and unbecomingly tight. Apparently, cycling 60 miles a week does good things for my calves! So I modified the entrelac blocks to include higher stitch counts. After turning the heel and rejoining to work in the round, I knit 4 CC tiers with 6-stitch blocks, 1 CC tier with 7-stitch blocks, and then knit 8-stitch blocks until the stockings were long enough.

The pattern suggests making a twisted-yarn cord with attached pom-poms to garter the tops of the socks. Um, no thanks. Not my style. I’m still looking for just the right decoration. Good thing I’ve got a long time until cold weather!

I’ve had another fun little project going recently. Although we are still sad about losing little Ned, we have decided to move forward with procuring another hedgehog. Our new little one should be coming home in late August. While we are hedgehog-less, I decided that it would be a good time to design a new house for him or her.

Many hedgehogs seem to enjoy sleeping inside of “hedgie bags” (basically, a hedgehog-sized sleeping bag) inside of pipes or tubes, or covered up by their cage liners. Ned also always used to enjoy burrowing through a blanket on the couch, all around under our legs and feet. Hedgehogs generally seem to feel more secure in enclosed spaces. So, for this cage, I decided to increase the amount of enclosed space by using a plastic bin meant to fit under a bed. It is connected to the top bin via a PVC pipe – can you tell that I had fun with spray paint this week? The bottom and top bins both have multiple large screened ventilation windows. For easy hedgehog extraction (well, as easy as it gets…) and yet more air flow I made a large screened door with a hinge for the lower bin. The wheel is a Cake Walk Supreme wheel and is really nice – totally quiet and easy to clean. (If you click on the link, and then click on “Testamonials” you will find on that page a link to a video of a hedgehog running on her wheel. Those little legs car really fly!)  Still to be added are food and water dishes, toys, a hedgie bag, and some ramp covers to increase traction inside of the slippery PVC pipe. I’m counting the days until we bring our new friend home!

This is the Triinu Scarf, from Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia. This is the second project I’ve made from that book, and it certainly won’t be the last – I think that I could happily make every project in the book, and then start playing with the included stitch dictionary. I knit this scarf with two skeins of Misti Alpaca laceweight, and size 4 needles. The Misti Alpaca was likewise a joy to work with. It’s great to combine good yarn with such an enjoyable pattern!

I normally tend to tweak patterns to fit my particular tastes, but I largely left  this one alone, with the exception of not slipping the first stitch in each row. I used to always slip the first stitch of every row, which makes a nice, neat edge, but I’ve had a few lace projects develop tight edges during blocking.  At this point I’ve knit enough lace that my edged stay neat regardless, and I value the more flexible edge because I typically stretch my lace to the limits while blocking.

I also took some liberty while blocking, and blocked a scalloped edge on the scarf. I thought that it made for a more unified look between the narrow, lace ends, and the garter-stitch long edges. It also meant that I got to use about 200 fewer pins! I finished this while traveling, and blocked it out at my mother’s house in Ohio. My blocking wires, alas, were at home in Texas, so I made do with straight pins from her quilting supplies. I don’t think that I would have even considered a scalloped edge if I had blocked it at home, so it worked out OK; I really like the scarf with the scallops.

Ned.

July 6, 2008 – June 25, 2009.

Our living room has become very quiet at night.

I love knitting mittens. However, I hate knitting the thumbs. So, typically, I knit up the mittens until I’m ready to do the thumbs and then stick them at the bottom of my work basket until I feel guilty enough about the unfinished project to tackle the thumbs.

The thumb-guilt set in a few weeks ago, so finally, my mother-in-law gets the mittens I started for her last Thanksgiving.

For these mittens, I used a skein of Cascade 220 for the light tan color, and a skein of Arucania Nature Wool for the dark color. The Arucania is slightly varigated. I was a little concerned about the varigation not working well, but the backs of the mittens came out OK, and the crosshatching on the palms looks really neat.

Now to get to the post office and mail them to Wisconsin…

I heard through the grapevine that a few of my friends and family Up North were wondering what had happened to my blog. Well, what has happened is that I’m having a very busy spring! After 18 months or so of going back and forth to doctors, we finally seem to have my migraines under control and I am feeling much better overall. This means that I am able to take on an increased workload and more commitments in general, which translates to less knitting and less blogging about knitting. I’m not about to give up either pursuit, but I’m not able to spend 20 hours a week on those things any more as I was. Overall, this is a Very Good Thing. I feel healthy and strong for the first time in a long, long time.

So, what have I been so busy doing?

• As I said, I’m teaching lots more. I have some awesome students this year. Three of my middle school students are taking solos to contest that are off of the high school list! It’s hard to believe that I have a 7th grader playing a Mozart rondo, and playing it well, but it’s true.
• One of my great regrets regarding my college education was that I was not able to take any additional math classes. I tested out of the courses required for my major, and was never able to fit a math elective into my schedule. So, last fall I trotted over to the local community college and signed up for a trigonometry class this spring. I would have preferred to take calculus, but after 10 years of not doing any math, I forgot a lot of stuff and was told that I should start with trig. I’m doing great in the class and it’s fun, but I’m doing 10-12 hours of homework each week in addition to attending class, which in addition to work makes for a busy schedule.
• We’re buying a house! Because my husband is working so much overtime these days, I’ve been handling most of the logistics here, which at times has added significantly to both my workload and my stress level. The house is in central Austin, but details are otherwise top secret until we close in early May.
• My husband and I will be visiting our families in early June this year, in time to catch my cousin’s high school graduation in Columbus. When we visit we like to take up small gifts. This year we’ll be bringing lots of homemade soap. We started making soap over the winter and are pretty pleased with the most recent batch, which my mom helped out with during her recent trip to visit us. I hope that everyone likes soap that smells like lavender and vanilla! As you can see, we have a LOT of soap – this recipe made 10 pounds!
• And, last but not least, we are still having great fun with Ned. Have a good spring, everyone!

Happy New Year, everyone!

So far, things have been quiet around here. I’ve been doing lots of spinning so far, with not so much knitting.

After spinning on a friend’s supported spindle, I decided that I needed to get one for myself. So, yesterday, I opened the mailbox to find my new Tibetan spindle, which I had ordered from The Wheel Thing earlier this week.

Ordering handmade items over the Internet always feels like a gamble to me. Sometimes, I get really nice things at very reasonable prices. Other times, I wind up with poor quality products that I would not buy in person at any price. I won the gamble with this spindle! It is absolutely lovely, solidly and beautifully made, and performs exceptionally well. It is perfectly balanced and has lots of momentum, so it spins fast for a long time. Both tips are sharp, but not so much that I risk injury, and I can balance the bottom tip on my leg to wind on without being scratched or punctured. The shaft is just grabby enough so that the yarn doesn’t slide off, without being completely unfinished and rough. Working with a tool like this is always a joy.

For anyone unfamiliar with spinning and spindles, a supported spindle is a type of spindle that rests on the ground or a hard surface such as a bowl while it spins, unlike a drop spindle, which hangs from the yarn as it is being spun. Both types of spindles have their pros and cons. Small supported spindles, such as Tibetan or Russian spindles, are excellent for spinning very fine yarn out of delicate fibers such as cashmere. Because the spun fiber does not have to support the weight of the spindle, the spinner can create an extremely thin yarn without using an excessive amount of twist. If you want to see a Tibetan spindle in action, there is an excellent video on YouTube here.

A few weeks ago, I needed a part for my spinning wheel. I found the part for $2 at Woodland Woolworks. Not wanting to pay $2 for the part and $5 or more to ship it, I decided to also order some prepared fiber for spinning. I ordered a pound of wool: 8 oz of Finnsheep top, and 8 oz of Romney/Perendale carded wool. When the package came in the mail, I was surprised to get a fairly small box. My first thought was that they must have been out of the wool I had ordered, so they had left it out of the shipment. Then I opened the box, wherein I found the part I had ordered, along with two paper tubes full of wool. Each tube was about 2 or 3 inches in diameter. A bit puzzled, I cut the tape on one tube and unrolled it. Out popped a huge mass of wool! Over the next day or so, the wool kept expanding, so now I have a huge airy bundle of wool. I’ve never ordered wool before this without being able to feel it first, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice this stuff is. I spun a sample and it is wonderful to work with. In the past I’ve had some trouble with Internet orders not being what I had hoped for, but so far this year I’m doing great!

One last thing:

This is the Lilac Leaf Shawl, from the new book Knitted Lace of Estonia, by Nancy Bush.

I knit this shawl using Jaggerspun Zephyr, color ebony, on US size 4 needles. Black yarn is notoriously difficult to work with, because it can be hard to see detail in the work. I always made sure to put a white piece of paper or a light-colored blanket on my lap. Between the white paper and the open texture of the work, I had no trouble seeing my stitches. The odd thing about this color of Zephyr was the feel of the yarn. It felt a bit scratchy, and did not like to slide through my fingers the way I am used to Zephyr doing. My swatch softened up a bit after blocking, and then softened much more over time, so I anticipate that the stole will similarly develop a nice feel.

This shawl has nupps, which are special stitches that resemble beads in the work. I was worried that the nupps wouldn’t show up in the finished work. They are difficult to do, so I wanted them to show up! I was happy to see that they stand out well in the blocked shawl.

My one criticism of this pattern has to do with the grafting instructions. The instructions have the knitter cast on at one end, knit the edging, then the border, then the entire middle panel, and then the second border. The second edging is then cast on separately to be knit, and then grafted to the second border. The graft occurs in the middle of six rows of garter stitch, but the grafting instructions – which are quite specific – are for stockinette stitch. As you can see in the photo, this creates a wide “valley” between two of the three garter stitch ridges. Given that the book is extremely specific regarding several other techniques, I fail to see why the need to use a garter stitch graft was not included. Fortunately, the dark color and small gauge of the work insure that this error will be visible only if you really look for it!

One last note: No, you’re not imagining things: I did indeed get a haircut! It is up to the middle of my back now. I’ve been a bit surprised at how many people have been upset by this, particularly my students. Don’t worry, it grows back. I do this every few years; otherwise it would be dragging on the floor by now!

My annual Christmas gift to my friends and colleagues.

This year I made gingerbread men, crispy lebkuchen, pecan cringles, windmill cookies, mocha chocolate cringles, and, of course, chocolate chip cookies. I think that altogether it came out to just over 300 cookies. The windmill cookies are cut round because I don’t have any cookie stamps – anyone still need to get me a Christmas present?

Surprisingly, I only used 9 eggs this year. I did, however, go through an entire 5 pound bag of white flour, 1.5 bags of brown sugar, and 2.5 pounds of butter. I put together 14 plates of cookies. Now for the fun part – delivery!