April 14, 2013
Smells like wet wool!
I finished my Orenburg stole and have it blocking. It’s going to be huge and I love it! I’ve never used the string method before and boy is that easy. I wanted to have it done before the Knitting Pipeline retreat in 2 weeks so I can wear it. Now, I need to assemble some mindless knitting that I can do while at the retreat.
April 7, 2013
Cardigan finished, pullover started
I finished my cardigan. I love it and I’ve gotten a lot of use out of it this winter and spring. I finished it sometime in February.
I had to incentivitze myself to get it done. At New Year’s I purchased a Crafty class called custom cabled pullovers. I ordered the yarn, but told myself that I couldn’t even start watching the class until I finished the Circumnavigated Cardigan. It did spur me on and I’ve started the pullover. Here is one sleeve and the back. I knit the sleeve to the armhole decreases, then put it aside to work the back so that I knew they would match. The design and fit process has been quite challenging for me but I love it! I’m using Universal Classic Worsted and the color is Royal Purple.
I’m very close to starting the top border of the Orenburg shawl, and I’m halfway done with a pair of socks for a friend. The sad part with all this knitting is that ALL my bobbin lace pillows are naked! I have a bookmark pricking on one of my roller pillows and I might wind some bobbins just to get something going. I found an ornament pattern that I’d like to try, so that might be an option to get me going as well.
February 3, 2013
Orenburg lace knitting
I’m having an addiction problem. My sweater that I’m so close to finishing? Yeah, that has been set aside for the sexy challenge of lace knitting. I just can’t put it down!
Last summer I took a class in Orenburg knitting with Galina Khmeleva at the IOLI convention. This is the little sample pattern we worked to learn the basics of Orenburg knitting.
After I got home I picked up some DK weight yarn to make some dish cloths using and reinforcing the techniques I learned.
I have been a subscriber to Piecework magazine for many years and Galina has published many patterns in that magazine. I wanted to knit a stole (rectangular shawl) but couldn’t find a pattern that pleased me. I like the Snowflake Scarf in the January/February 2011 issue of Piecework, so I decided to triple the width of that pattern and it should make a nice sized shawl.
I cast on January 1, 2013 and have been unable to put it down since. I have 34″ (unblocked) knit on my way to about 66″.
January 18, 2013
Sweater progress
I’m back to working on the circumnavigated sweater that I started last winter. It is knit from a heavy Irish wool that I couldn’t face working on during the summer. When I set it aside I had just divided the underarm stitches from the body and cast on the additional sleeve/shoulder stitches. I don’t know how many hundred stitches were on the needle at that point, but the rows were LONG!
Once I finished my Christmas knitting and Audrey was here for the weekend before Christmas I started the raglan decreases. After Christmas I was working the saddle shoulders. It’s my first time doing those and I really like them. Since New Year’s I have done the front button band and the shawl collar. Love the shawl collar! I love how it turns itself to lay back and since this sweater is going to be more like a jacket I love the warmth and coziness of the collar. Last night I started knitting the first sleeve. I think it will finish quickly from here.
January 6, 2013
Christmas gifting-knitting and bobbin lace
I tried to keep my Christmas gifting to a manageable level and was able to finish everything in plenty of time for the holiday.
I made fingerless mitts for my nieces and nephew.
A bobbin lace scarf for my mom. I need to get a photo of her wearing it.
Close up of the lace. It’s a ‘s Gravenmoerse pattern. It ended up about 60″ long and took me 60 hours to complete. Now for the first time in forever I don’t have any bobbin lace projects on pillows. I’m going to have to fix that really soon. I loved working on this scarf so much that I think I’m going to make one for myself also.
Also, two TARDIS hats (for son and nephew), lacy green Orenburg cuffs for my mother-in-law, and socks for Grandma. Yes, the socks were done in time for Christmas, but I took the photo early because I had to get the other gifts wrapped. I also knit a handful of Orenburg lace-style dish cloths. None of them ended up as gifts, yet, but I like to have them on hand. And they were great practice for my next project, an Orenburg lace stole, that I started on New Year’s.
November 6, 2012
Retreat update
Had a wonderful time at the Doris Southard Lace Guild retreat that was held in Dubuque last weekend. Started a new project, a ‘s Gravenmoerse bobbin lace scarf. Fourteen members were there and we got a lot of lacemaking done. I’ll do a more in-depth report on the retreat later.
‘s Gravenmoerse bobbin lace scarf in progress
November 2, 2012
Lacemaking retreat tonight!
So excited! Going to the Doris Southard Lace Guild retreat in Dubuque tonight and lasting through Sunday. I have a mountain of stuff packed and can’t wait to put some quality time in on my projects.
October 14, 2012
So pretty
It’s a rainy fall day here in northern Illinois, but I just finished a
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September 16, 2012
Guild meeting today
The Doris Southard Lace Guild meeting was in Galena today and I did a short presentation for the group about my Princess lace machine. We had a nice mix of people, with the local members all there, members from Moline and Cedar Rapids, and some visitors from Galena, Dubuque and Rockford that made the drive to see us. Some of us met for lunch before the meeting which was held in the Desoto House Hotel. The room was great, with good light. I think we did a lot of chatting and sharing, but some lace was made.
Jan’s new bolster pillow. She has a very talented hubby.
