By Request

I just don’t have the time to take all of the careful photographs and fuss around with the blog post editor these days, which is why I’ve all but stopped posting to this blog. However, I had a request to put up some photos of a recent project, so here we are.

I was honored by a request to make a piece of lace for my church’s main altar this summer. The piece was designed collaboratively with our music director, who  also heads up the art and environment department (along with coordinating all of the lay ministers, publishing the worship aids, herding the choir, playing the organ, and who knows what else… he’s simply amazing and we absolutely do not pay him enough).

Here are the swatches that made it far enough to deserve consideration. Although we ended up choosing a commercial linen yarn, I also experimented with some Habu stainless steel double-stranded with handspun gossamer weight silk. I just loved the steel/silk and be using that combo for a project down the road.

The piece is 13 feet long, Blocking the lace was a bit of a logistical challenge in my tiny house. I lined up my blocking mats in the hallway and we flipped the whole thing up on its side overnight so the cat wouldn’t destroy it.

Blocking the lace in my hallway. It was 13′ long by 6.5″ wide.

One of the ladies from the choir sewed the lace to the backing. She did a great job!

The blocked lace, not yet sewn to its backing.

Decorating for Christmas!

It was such an honor to do this project. After all of the trouble with my vision over the past 18 months, being asked to make a piece of lace for the church felt like a sign from Heaven. God has blessed me beyond anything I asked for.

Let It Snow

This shawl was knit from the pattern “Let It Snow” by Po Lena. I knit it using The Gossamer Web’s Sheherazade, in the color “wisteria.” The finished piece is light and airy and has a nice halo. The yarn was OK to work with; the finished product is lovely, but I don’t know that I’ll buy the yarn again. At that price point I really should be much more in love with the yarn.

Gossamer weight yarn.

I made a few modifications to the pattern, which came with only scanty instructions. The pattern charts were good, but the instructions were incomplete and didn’t seem to go with the charts. For example, the instructions stated that the charts only showed the odd-numbered knit rows, but the charts themselves showed every row. The edging was also missing instructions on rounding the bottom tip and had a misprint, in the form of a decrease that needed to be added to the first row. I liked the project and found it to be a relaxing knit, but a beginner who needs every step spelled out should find another pattern.

This was my 37th lace piece.

Matilda decided that it was time to stop knitting and pet her.

Catching up: Peacock Tail and Leaf

This is the Peacock Tail and Leaf pattern, from Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia. I strongly suspect that at some point I will knit every shawl in that book because I keep coming back to it. Such a nice collection of patterns.

I’m very pleased to say that I spun this yarn from some tussah silk roving that I picked up while on the Hill Country Yarn Crawl this year. I got about 500 yards of finished 2-ply yarn from 1 oz of fiber. Not bad! The fiber was produced by the folks at Sweet Georgia Yarns, in the colorway “creme brulee.” The color is just lovely.

Catching up: Lightweight Mountain Peaks

Oh so pretty in white.

Just as lovely in red, and more wearable.

I’ve knit Lightweight Mountain Peaks before, way back in 2007. It came out huge then, too.

This time I knit it in undyed (read: cheaper) Plymouth Baby Alpaca Lace yarn. I just loved working with the yarn. It has all of the characteristics I look for in a lace yarn: good stitch definition, springiness to make my hands happy, and just a bit of fuzz after washing. The finished shawl is soft and cuddly and makes you want to put it on and curl up with a good book by the fire.

The undyed yarn was a lovely creamy white. The finished shawl was beautiful… and looked like something one might wear to a Civil War re-enactment. Although I do own and know how to use a spinning wheel, I’m not otherwise into bringing history to life, so I sent the shawl across town to Andrea at Natural Obsessions for a color change. I’m extremely pleased with the outcome. The color has some gentle gradation, just enough to keep the eye moving, and looks amazing with a little black dress.

It’s beautiful… and looks like a museum piece.

I’m much happier with the shawl in red.

Catching up: Sheep Heid

Yarn, made from sheep.

Sheep, knit from yarn.

This is the Sheep Heid pattern, from Kate Davies Designs.

Due to the high cost of the suggested yarn (the kit was $108 dollars!) I subbed in Jamieson’s Spindrift. For anyone wanting to make the same sub and wondering what colors to get, here is what I used:

Shetland Supreme # (color) -> Spindrift # (color)

2001 (white) -> 104 (natural white)
2006 (gaulmogot) -> 122 (granite)
2008 (katmollet) -> 127 (pebble)
2002 (mooskit) -> 106 (mooskit)
2003 (shaela) -> 103 (sholmit)
2007 (sholmit) -> 102 (shaela)
2004 (moorit) -> 108 (moorit)
2009 (yuglet) -> 123 (oxford)
2005 (black) -> 101 (Shetland black)

I made two hats, and there is a photo of the two of us wearing our hats together, but the person who took the photo has neglected to send me the file, so you’ll just have to imagine how cute they are together. Or, maybe she’ll email me with the file (hint, hint).

Matilda LOVED the yarn and tried to eat it every time I left the project out.