ANISOS YARN - guest blogger Tracey

My yarn choice for the Anisos wasn't hard
to make. I have been saving two skeins of
The Fibre Company's Meadow in Gentian Violet
because I love this yarn and can't think of a better
person to use it for than my Mama.

I am going to knit the second largest size as I have
1090 yards and I want to use every last gram that
I can.

2016 was the year of socks for Christmas gifts
and I have decided 2017 will be the year of
the Shawl.

Stonecrop :: guest post blogger Karen

Ta da!  The shawl is finished and as I type this it's folded up and waiting for July and the wedding to roll around.  I'm pretty sure I'll wear this shawl to my daughter's wedding, unless I change my mind. I enjoyed knitting this pattern and the challenge of following three charts at once was fun.  I think that's how us knitters get our entertainment.

I would have loved to make the longer version but I had no idea if I had enough yarn or not and knitting three extra repeats only to rip them out would have made me sad.  So I did the smaller one, but as you can see the small version is quite large enough!!

Ravelry notes are here and a blog post here

Stonecrop Shawl ~ Guest Blogger Karen

I've knit the main chart three times through and finally I'm used to the pattern.  There are only a few places where I check and recheck the chart and my knitting but most of the time I'm happily knitting away enjoying the progress.  The cashmere is wonderful to knit with and I find the garter stitch lace delightful......as in.....no purling.  I'm not against purling and do like to purl but the not purling adds a bit of decadence to the knitting :)

Ravelry notes here.

Two steps backwards and One step forward ~ guest blogger Steph

Oh man! The easiest thing about the last 4 days has been knitting and even then I have needed to take a bit of a mulligan. First let me start by saying I'm okay, I am on the tail-end of a flu (101.8 anyone?) that knocked me flat on my ass(I hope I can write this, if not feel free to edit away Melissa:).

So I am in catch up mode, I finally picked up knitting last night, my personal theory is that they doctor shouldn't take your temperature, but just ask you if you have lost any desire to knit. I feel like the biggest slacker ever because in between launching my blog (literally a day after) this is what happened to me. I also have had really mixed feelings about posting anything at all, because I didn't want to seek any attention for myself.

In the end I decided that it was best to explain why I had only made it through 2 repeats of Chart B  in my Ashby.... It has been way easier the second time around, but I have noticed one or 2 mistakes that I have made which I am trying to let go.. I think it is a knitter's prerogative right. You take out the ones that drive you up the wall, but leave the ones that at a bit of character.

I can't wait till this is done not because it is time consuming but because I have admired it for a long time.

 So since it is a new day its time to get this thing done:) (Kelli and Mel doesn't this look familiar?).

New Years Knitalong with Girls in Sheep Clothing ~ posted by Melissa

It's hard to believe we're coming up on our Sixth Annual New Year's knitalong on our blog.  I'm excited to reconnect with old friends and hopefully meet some new!  We always have so much fun (here's a snippet of some of what we accomplished last year ~ it will take your breathe away!).

For 2014 we've chosen Spire as our way of ringing in the new year and celebrating the friendships that our knitalongs have brought us.  Spire is a center start, square lace shawl designed by Leila Raabe for Brooklyn Tweed ~ Allison at BT was kind enough to give me permission to use Jared Flood's photos in this blog post.  Completely drool-inducing...the shawl and the photos, don't you agree?

Our official cast on date is January 1st so you have plenty of time to gather your materials (and probably change your mind about your yarn choice at least a dozen times).  As usual, our knitalongs are stress free ~ no deadlines (we still have one person finishing up Leaves of Grass!) & blogging along is encouraged but not required.  If you'd like to join us, leave a comment below ~ if you've knitted with us before, you know the routine.  If this will be your first time, there's a tutorial on how to be a guest blogger (thanks again, Kelly!) once I've sent you your official invitation to participate.

I'm so glad that this annual tradition has continued and grown and look forward to knitting with you all after the stress of the holiday season has subsided.  Please join us this year ~ we'd love to have you!  Here's to knitting and friendship in 2014!   ~ Melissa

LINKS:

Spire available for purchase & download on Brooklyn Tweed's site

Spire available for purchase & download on Ravelry

guest blogging tutorial page

(all copyrighted photos by Jared Flood used with permission from Brooklyn Tweed ~ please do not reproduce without their permission!)

the cat's out of the bag ~ posted by Melissa

 

Remember this post from not quite a year ago?

 

 

The book may or may not ever get published (I'm still rooting for you, Rachel!) but my design was very kindly returned to me last night, along with some gentle encouragement in hopes that I would publish it myself.

 

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it at the moment.

 

Other than finally share it with you all! 

 

 

 

 

Just a teaser til I figure out exactly what to do.

 

It's exciting and daunting all at once.  I'm not sure I have it in me to be a designer so this may be the first as well as the last thing I ever create.  It's hard to put yourself out there (Will ~ now I know exactly what you were talking about with BRRH!!).  Is it worthy??

 

I have dozens of pictures of the ten samples that I knit and gave away as Christmas gifts last year, but for now, these are the only two I'm going to share.  (If you're wondering, this place is my destination on those daily walks, and I felt like Jared Flood the day I took the photos.  The weather was not the best, it was December and I thought the beach would be deserted but I was wrong.  I had so many people stop and ask me what I was up to...and where they could buy my knitting...I was embarrased and proud all mixed in together!)

 

So, what do you think?  I'm relying on some honesty from my favorite knitting peeps about whether to put it up on Ravelry or tuck it away and stay in the warm safety of total anonymity (which is completely my comfort zone!).  Should the cat stay out or shall I stuff the poor thing back in the bag and just let it be?

 

That's it for now ~ got some thinking to do...

ponder ponder ponder :)

~Melissa

 

edited to add: while I was writing this, it was raining so hard you couldn't see outside...and just when I posted, the house across the street's drain pipe to our shared creek plugged up, the creek overran and we had about 8" deep and at least 20 feet wide of incredibly fast river run across the road right into our driveway.  Our garage and shed and backyard...completely flooded.  Oy.  Life has it's ups and downs, doesn't it.  Glass half full, glass half full, Melissa ~ ok, the boat just barely didn't get knocked off it's stand & I was able to prop it back up til Jason gets home from the Seahawks game, Dozer didn't get swept away, I met our next door neighbor (finally) after 14 years (and she's nice) and I only got completely drenched from head to toe one time by a car that didn't bother to slow down thru the rapids that I was trying to take pics of for insurance (the man was nice enough to show me one of his fingers when I soaking wet hollered for him to slow down!!) :)



Habuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!! - Post by Guest Blogger Jeff

So, the Shetland Triangle Lace Shawl is a pattern that I want to knit multiple times - and I already have yarn picked out for three different versions! Woot!

The yarn I'm planning on using for the first STLS is...



Habu Textiles A-1 2/17 Tsumugi Silk

Definitely can't wait until May 1st!

The other two STLS's I'm planning to knit in...

Elemental Affects Natural Shetland Rustic Lace

and

 

Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran

 

it's a shawl after all, y'all ~ posted by Melissa

Dozer, Jason and I headed down to Mukilteo Lighthouse Beach this morning and hung out with the pigeons and a few people that were brave enough to venture out in the very chilly, rainy weather.

We were on a mission to get some photos of my new shawl ;) ~ yup, I'm not sure it will ever grace my table top.  I'm enamored.

I'm so glad I did take out one chart D section ~ it did make all the difference in my feeling comfortable wearing it.

And I'm glad I decided to add beads to the edging ~ I can't describe how that little bit of extra weight around the outer edge makes it lie just a little bit better.

I love my new shawl ~ you can see loads more photos here if you'd like.  Those of you that know me also know that I always get carried away with pictures when I really, truly love a finished knit.  Thanks everyone for knitting along with us this year.  I sure enjoyed all the new company and eagerly await the other 8 or so finished shawls as they appear!  Can't wait to see them all!  ~ Melissa

circle of friendship ~ posted by Melissa

“Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.”

~ Walt Whitman

 

Isager Strik Spinni Wool 1 in 'dark natural gray'



I'm so looking forward to this year's knitalong.  2012 was spent hunkered down in solitude knitting big secrets that couldn't be shared but 2013 will be a year for reconnecting with friends.  I tried to find a good 'Leaves of Grass' quote that was fitting but when I found the one above I loved it so I stopped looking (I'm not sure what it's from?).  Good old Walt Whitman ~ I'll have to add him to my reading list for 2013.  He always brings one of my favorite movies to mind, 'Dead Poets Society', and the scene where Robin William's students stand on their desks and quote lines from 'O Captain! My Captain!' as he gathers his belongings after being fired.  Such a good movie.

I'm excited to have WillyG join us this year and oddly enough, I have completely forgotten who else said that they were going to knit with us this time around.  I know that Kelli, Jeff and Will are casting on, and I think Morgen has also said she'll be joining us.  Other than that, I guess I'll be pleasantly surprised if someone I've forgotten pops on with a post! (here's a link to an updated list of all our knitters!)

There's still time to participate ~ pm me on Ravelry if you'd like to knitalong.  We cast on January 1st but even if you decide at a later date to play along, for the most part we're slow knitters and there's no rush to get added to the blog for posting rights.

Be safe tomorrow as you ring in the New Year and hopefully we all wake up with clear minds and rested fingers as we cast on 'Leaves of Grass'.

Enjoy the waning hours of 2012 and see you all next year!   ~ Melissa

half-a-bag-o'-cat ~ posted by Melissa

I've had a secret.  A really, really, really big secret since last January.  And I managed to keep it for just shy of an entire year from all my closest friends and family.  I did spill to a few long distance internet buddies who I swore to secrecy and now I can finally share (at least in part) with everyone else who might think this is the slightest bit cool.

I got an email at the beginning of the year asking me if I had designed anything to which I replied, 'nope'.  And then another email followed asking if I would be interested in designing something to be included in a book.  Gulp.  To which I immediately replied, 'YES'!  I was given a few guidelines ~ a shawl, using about 450 yards of yarn, simple in nature that would fit the theme of the book.  Over the next couple weeks, I sketched and swatched and submitted and tweaked and resubmitted and waited for yarn to come in the mail and knit an entire shawl while I waited and then knit another to be featured in the book when the yarn finally arrived and wrote and rewrote and edited and rewrote the pattern and took some pictures of the final book piece before packing up the finished shawl and my pattern to be sent to a tech editor for more tweaking.  The pattern was test knit by 3 people and I knit 8 more over the course of this year so that I could give my mom, mother-in-law, sister, sisters-in-law, brother's girlfriend and my nieces each their own shawl for Christmas.  The picture off to the side is what I can show you of all 9 samples that I knit and gave away this week as gifts.

The best part of the whole thing was knowing I had this enormous secret that I managed to keep for 12 months and being able to include notes in the presents that the pattern was going to be published.  It's the biggest secret I've ever kept and definitely the longest.  I think in the end I was more excited about it than anyone else but that's okay.  It's been a fun year of knitting and planning and choosing yarns for each person.

The book is still not published, and I'm not sure that it ever will be.  That's as much as I can say about that right now.  It's completely out of my hands at this point so it's a waiting game.  The fun part is that the author is letting everyone keep copyright on their designs so we will eventually get them back whether the book sees the light of day or not.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be and I really do believe that it's just a matter of time.  I have complete faith in the gal who put the whole thing together and her message and her perseverance to see her dream through til the end.  I'm so glad she asked me to participate and I'm completely honored that she thought to include me at all.

Anywho, that's my big news and why the cat is only partially out of the bag.  Once the design is public, I'll let the other 1/2 cat out and share some photos of what I've been up to.  If you managed to read this whole post through to the end, thanks for humoring me and hope I didn't bore you to tears!

Wishing everyone a merry holiday week filled with a little rest and a little knitting and lots of family.  I'll update everyone about the upcoming New Year's Knitalong in a couple days.  Happy knitting!   ~ Melissa