Dishing up a Birthday Gift

I was all set ~ is that akin to "It was a dark and stormy night!" You know something is coming that changes your plans and you can almost hear the music playing.... My DIL (Daughter-in-Law) picked out a shawl for me to knit for her birthday. After much thought and deliberation, I chose Suri Dream Hand Dyed {74% Suri Alpaca, 22% Wool, 4% Nylon} from Knit Picks and cast on. I love the yarn but as I began to knit, I decided this was not the project for that yarn. I will find the right project for the Suri Dream, I promise. It will have a purpose in my yarn stash.

I had been eyeing Tapestry by Rowan and knew I had to make something with it. I decided this was the project. Tapestry is described as "a subtley self striping unique blend of 70% wool and 30% soybean. It is warm and soft and has a soft gentle drape." That sounded very cozy to me! I chose Colorway #171 Rainbow:

and planned to do the fringe in Venezia Color by Lang Yarns in Colorway #159 which blends so beautifully with the Tapestry yarn. {...notice the past tense.}


I was all set {there's that music again!}...


After playing with the pattern and becoming more comfortable with it, I decided perhaps the pattern was not quite what I should do at this time. Some friends from Naturally Needlepoint and Knitting (NN&K) had knitted patterns by




{Click on the Fiddlesticks logo above to go to the Fiddlesticks website.} It did not take long for me to decide to knit the Triple Mohair Triangle (two friends have knitted it). Here are some of Fiddlesticks' pictures of the shawl I am going to knit:







Raise your hand if you have ever changed your mind on a pattern and then you need ....drum roll please.... more yarn! ...insert trumpet sound!...



I was able to find more Tapestry in the chosen colorway, but previously had only needed one skein of the Venecia Color by Lang Yarns. Naturally there were no more skeins of that beautiful blue I loved so much. I do not even find that colorway listed on Yarndex {a clue to availability perhaps?!}


Never fear, Vickie is here! The wonderful owner of NN&K personally pulled some color schemes together for me for the fringe, then took a poll of her very talented and trusted sidekicks and they all approved the choice.



The fringe will be in a blue grey colorway of Lang SilkDream {a 50/50 Merino/Silk blend}




and GGH Soft-Kid Colorway #62.

Yarndex's description says this about Soft-Kid: "Ultra-feminine 'super' kid mohair helps you craft the lightest, most ethereal garments imaginable. Used alone or carried along with another yarn to soften and add a special glow to the finished piece. 70% mohair, 25% nylon & 5% wool. " The colors blend beautifully together. This pattern is more complex than the pervious pattern, but I really the shawls my friends have done. I know DIL will like it also.

I am eager to start on this shawl. Temporarily I have set it aside to work on a chemo hat for Leisure Arts and am running late on the hat. Changing departments at work and working overtime has eaten into my time. I was able to knit on the hat a little yesterday morning and hope to knit on it some tonight. I am using a pattern by a friend of mine. You can see the pattern if you go over to her website Pieceful Stitches, click on Free Stuff and feast your eyes on "Diagonal Rib Hat." I am using Magic Loop technique and having a lot of fun. From day one I have enjoyed using circular needles, so magic loop is "right up my alley."


Carpe Knitting,
KZ

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I could not resist showing a few pictures of some houses in my area. A number of homes were decked out this season. The owner of this one tells me they currently have 40,000 lights. They start before Halloween and spend 3 months putting up the lights.

He went on to tell me that it will take them 3 more years to collect all of the lights they want. At that time, they will have 75,000 lights! Whew! Wonder when they will have to start putting their lights up then?!

Here's another home for those who prefer all white lights.

Are you a fan of Knitty ? For those not familiar with it, this online 'zine has knitting patterns for a variety of tastes.

Looking back at the Fall06 issue of Knitty, a pattern caught my attention that I had missed when this issue first came out. The Lizard Ridge afghan by Laura Aylor jumped out at me as I looked at those beautiful colorways of Noro Kureyon. {A friend with Japanese heritage tells me the English translation for the Japanese word "kureyon" is "crayon."}

Right above the pattern is an advertisement for Yarniverse's Kureyon Club. I contacted Yarniverse in Memphis, Tennessee and signed up. They have sent out 2 shipiments so far, so I asked for both shipments in the same envelope. They were very quick to send the beautiful Kureyon and patterns. Every 5 to 6 weeks you receive a different colorway of Kureyon, along with a suggested pattern.

Next I came across the Leapin' Lizards knitalong for this fun afghan. This is my first knitalong {KAL} to join. I am enjoying reading the posts and seeing pictures of everyone's progress. I have definitely found inspiration for a great project for the new year. My plans are for version 1 with the variety of colorways.

Carpe knitting,
KZ