Crownprincess Mary

Yesterday Crownprincess Mary visited sons kindgarten. He had a blast and managed to get himself on national news asking the princess funny questions that only 5 yo can come up with!

Secret of the Stole -dyed and blocked.

I was just about to moan about my felted (!) uneven dyed (!) SotS when Purplejen saved my day! She wrote : "I won't worry about the uneven colour, I think that's the appeal of hand dyeing"

Thanks Jen!!

I don't mind the felting this time as it was enourmous -but it will be a while before I felt anything after it has been knitted!!!

Sorry about the lousy pictures. I'll take some outside on a sunny day asap (who am I kidding, it's winter!)

More surprises

Yesterday there was a slip in my mailbox about a package waiting for me at the postofice. I was very surprised and puzzled because I wasn't expecting anything!

At the postoffice today I ripped the box up right away (by then I could see it was from Amazon and admitted, I was out of patience). Gosh. Reb has spoiled me again and sent me a copy of her favourite indian cooking book! We are both very fond of indian cooking :-)

Reb, thanks a million! I am totally overwhelmed and in lack of words. It is so sweet of you!!

Swatch One again in Zephyr

Here is a picture of my Zephyr swatch. It ended out measuring 12,5 by 12 cm (4,9" by 4,7") which is a little too large, so if I had smaller needles I would use 2,75mm instead of 3mm. From this swatch you can also see how much you are able to change the width and height just by blocking.

Purplejen has posted pictures of her Swatch One in her blog. Please remember the yarn estimate is based on her swatch (which is smaller than mine), so if you decide for a bigger swatch than hers you will need more yarn (estimate so far is 1650m). With her gauge the shawl will be app. 65 cm wide.

SotS all finished!!

I was hardly awake when i started knitting this morning :-) Now I just have to dye it (no felting this time please) and block it (it's going to be huge).

Apart from that it's Spring Shawl Surprise time!! Still have some swatching to do.

SotS 7

Just in time for clue 8 -the final one.

More Melon

Now that I finally have something to show I sure am doing it all the way! :-) My 5 yo took the pictures so they might be a bit out of focus.

Pattern: The Melon Shawl from Victorian Lace Today

Yarn: Fonty Laines Kidopale (70% Superkid mohair, 30% polyamide)225m/25g. 80 g used.

Needles: Addi Lace needles 4mm

Started: August 24, 2007. Finished: November 21, 2007.

Size: 70 by 200 cm

Swatching and blocking

Blocking is essential in lace knitting and it's always amazing to see the huge change it causes.

Ofcourse some people like to block their lace more than others just as some patterns call for a lot of blocking and some less.

The Spring Shawl Surprise needs quite a bit of blocking and you will actually use it to mould parts of the pattern. Once you start knitting you will all see what I mean.

Below is my Swatch One before and after blocking. Notice how the blocking has flattened the knitting and opened and streched the yarn overs to different sizes. This is what you should aim for when you block your swatch. If you find the swatch gets too big with this much blocking you may consider going down in needle size -or accept a bigger shawl (you will then need more yarn).

Dimensions after blocking: 14 x 12 cm (4,7" x 5,5"). Yarn: Knit Picks bare merino 800m/100g (880yards/100g). Needles: 3½mm. I am a pretty loose knitter.

The end of The Melon -finally

Finally I have a FO to show!! Now that see it on the pictures I realise the blocking could have been better though :-) Guess I need something with straight lines or squares on to put underneath.

I ended out pretty big. 70 by 200 cm. Partly because I like to block it as much as possible without breaking it.

More pictures to come.

Today..

Today is the day where I should be showing SotS clue 7.

But I can't...am too busy with SSS.

Instead a couple of pictures from this very funny site

Leafy scarf

A couple of repeats of the pattern "Leafy scarf" that members of the Spring Shawl Surprise gets for free. It's easy lace and is good for those who has never tried lace knitting before -or if you want a quick project. You need no more than 200 meter of yarn no matter the weight.

I think it will look better in a a colour not as dark as mine.

Have you made it/are you making it? Then put a link to a picture under comments.

Secrets of the Stole

With husband in Boston and kids at grandparents I had plenty of time for knitting today.

So here we go, SotS clue 6. Only two to go.

There was quite a change in the pattern this time which was nice .

1000 members!

Yesterday member number 1000 signed up for the Spring Shawl Surprice! Pretty amazing! Most of the world is represented and so far there should be translations into German, French Spanish, Finnish, Dutch, danish and Italian.

So spread the word!!!

Nemesis and SotS

Here I was, happily knitting my way through Sots 5, listening to an audiobook and enjoying the easy going knit.

Shouldn't we have been warned about the change in the pattern ;-) ?

A little delayed I finished hint 5 after all.

Back to Spring Shawl Surprise. I think it time to try out that Zephyr on another swatch :-)

Spoiled rotten

Just have a look at this! All kind of goodies ....

AND....yes....it's Jaggerspun Zephyr!!!

My moanings in the Spring Shawl Surprice group about not having ever tried nor seen Zephyr was read by Reb and she asked if she could send me a little skein enough for a scarf so I could try it out. How could I resist???

And then what does she do! She spoils me with a wonderful surprise and skeins of Zephyr i three different colours! Do I like it? YES! Is it suitable for SSS? YES!

And it is so much fun and extremely interessting to get to know someone so far away!

Thanks a million Reb, you really made my day.

I already have plans for the yarn...but it's a secret ;-)