Shady Shawl

The Shawl: Diamonds and Pearls from The Knitter's Book of Yarn

The Knitting: Diamonds and Pearls detail


The Yarn: All spun up and plied


The Spinning: Singles on a bed of pre-drafted fluff


The Fiber: beautiful Merino roving from Abstract Fiber
in "Shady Glade"

V-Stitch Shawl update

The main body of the shawl is now complete and being blocked. I am still consider multiple options for finishing...fringe, beads, edging... I decided to wait and see how it drapes after it's blocked and dry... to be continued.

Oh, and the little colors peeking through are happy flowers on my sheets! I love them!

More Recycling...

I recently thrifted this sweater. It's a soft denim blue 50% wool / 50% silk long-sleeved tunic. While I liked the sweater and all its cables, it's just too long and ill-fitting.

Here, you see the left sleeve has already been frogged into a nice sized ball. The yarn is a great three - ply that measures 12 wraps per inch.

As I played with the recovered yarn, it "told" me it wants to be a cozy shawl in its next life. So I've been experimenting with different stitches. As of right now, it looks like a "V-stitch" is working out really well. Next will be the search for the right edging.

More new goodies...I just added these to my library. I easily drool over any of Nicky Epstein's books, and I've been coveting the Mason Dixon book for a long time. They just had to come home with me. Yippee!

Score!

Lookie what I found today for half-price at Goodwill!

The top layer is 2-1/2 yards of cotton fabric in green and oatmeal. I have been looking for the right green to use as a lining for another recycled sweater bag I'm working on. Perfect! Plus there is plenty for another project.

Second is an Old Navy Collection mohair blend sweater in a natural white. I am imagining it is destined to greatness as a scarf/shawl in its next life.

And last in this stack is a wool Gap sweater in a pale green. It's very nice as is, but I decided it will be happier in another form...maybe hats? An added bonus is the cute little button on its back.

I also snapped up a bag with four balls of unlabeled yarn in a natural oatmeal color. I'm never sure about these sealed bags, but since it was only $1.99, I decided it was worth the risk. At home it passed the burn test for wool and weighed out at over 16 ounces! Lots of options for this one. Yipppeee! I love good thrifting days!

Black Cherry Pi

I have been reading The Opinionated Knitter. Every time I read or re-read anything from Elizabeth Zimmermann, I am thoroughly inspired to become a better knitter. I love her enthusiasm for the craft and her straight forward writing style. I am so glad her works live on.

For some time I have been considering making an EZ Pi Shawl. Remember this? Well, based on her design, it became this...

Alas, I did not have quite enough yarn to make the shawl as large as I wanted. I like the pattern, but by the time I was at 288 stitches, I was getting a bit bored with the stockinette effect and decided to add a lace stitch. I bound off with a picot edging to conserve yarn. When it was blocked, it was only about 36 inches in diameter...not really shawl size.

I had Kool-Aid dyed the yarn in variations in strength of Black Cherry. When worked up, I didn't really like the effect, so re-dyed the finished shawl in yet another vat of Black Cherry, this time with a slosh of white vinegar. There are still some light and dark areas, but I find these acceptable and indicative of hand-dyed garments.

Here is is all blocked and just the perfect size to be a side table tidy. Of course, it's next to my knitting chair! (The orange tone is due to the lighting.)