... and lace is the cure...
This is my latest lace project- Crystal Palace Yarn's Madeira Cascade scarf (http://www.straw.com/cpy/cpy9612.html ). It's a pretty easy pattern- 20 row repeat, 45 sts, CO at the ends and work to the middle and then graft the halves together (oh goody... Kitchener stitch... bleh). I'm using handspun yarn made from Twisted Fiber Arts roving. This is the Sherwood colorway, the Sleek blend (Merino/Tencel). It's 3-ply yarn and I'm using size 5 needles. This is the perfect pattern for this yarn- it's too shiny (which may not show in the pic) and slippery for socks, but it looks fantastic as lace. The only modification that I made to the pattern was to work 2 garter stitches on either edge (whether that will help keep it from rolling remains to be seen). It's not going to be a terribly long scarf, though it will block out a lot longer than it looks right now. I wound the yarn into fairly equal balls, and will use up as much of the yarn as I can on the halves. I'm nearly done with the first half.
I have been rooting through my stash, to see what else I have that will work for lace (outside of handspun- and I have probaby 3 different finished handspuns that will work for scarves or other small shawls). Lo and behold- I have a cone of probably 10,000 yds (yeah, that's the right amount of zeros) of fine undyed wool that would make as many shawls as I ever want to knit. And another cone of very fine brown brushed mohair the same size. And that's just at first glance- I know I have a couple of cones of cotton somewhere (I knitted sweaters with it doubled, so a single strand will work fine for shawls).
Karen, I'm going to get you for this.
And on the non-lace front- I'm nearly done with the handspun neon gloves (roving purchased at NCFF a couple of weeks ago). They're still very Neon. I'm going to have plenty of yarn left from the 3 ozs. I spun, and I'm using last week's Freebie Friday pattern. Gloves aren't quite as mindless as socks, but they're perfect for knitting while I watch Chuck (welcome back Chuck! I've missed you so- and I laughed out loud at The Flight of the Conchords music. Foux da Fa Fa indeed), and Heroes, which is back to Season 1 greatness.
3 comments:
Heh heh heh.
Addictive, ain't it? ;^)
If it's any comfort, I've been delving into the stash in search of future lace projects too. I'm thinking "Muir" from last fall's Knitty???
That scarf is gorgeous! Yours is way cooler than theirs--I love how the colors interact.
oooh, Karen- Muir is gorgeous. (and isn't Ravelry amazing- you mention a pattern, I go to Ravelry and type in the name, and voila- there it is).
Cara- thank you so much. I love how the colors mix and blend in this yarn. That's one of the amazing things about handspun- you get color gradations that you never find in commercially dyed yarn. It's always fascinating to knit with it.
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