Swallowtail Shawl with Kauni

*Some of our new posts will be projects finished over the past year.
We'll play catch-up while we put up the new stuff as well.

Peggy's project notes:

Aug 31/08 - I love the Swallowtail using variegated or space-dyed yarn, so I thought I’d try Kauni yarn. This Kauni is mostly bluey tourquoisey teal – very subtle color changes. I washed, dried and rearranged the colors with all the lightest together, medium together and dark teal together.

Sept 18/08 - Knitting done, ends sewn in, blocking in progress.

Sept 19/08 - blocking all done.
The size with extra repeats of the two ‘nupps’ charts is
29” deep by 57” wide.

Rosy Fingered Dawn

Knitter: Rebecca
Pattern/Fiber: Rosie Fingered Dawn, a shawl kit from Blackberry Ridge; their lace weight wool in six colors.
Details: Knitting began 03-17-2001 and ended 05-06-2001 ~ it was my first massive lace project, inspired by Evelyn Clark who had just knit one for herself and of course I had to do it, too. This shawl was a challenge for me and if I knew then what I now know about lace knitting then I would have gone up a needle size or two for the lace edging. In fact, if I ever run out of things to knit, I may just rip out the current edging and knit on a new one, sideways, so it will stretch better in the blocking.

Blackberry Ridge lace weight wool is a treat to knit with and Hazel Carter writes a classic pattern. The resulting shawl is cozy and warm.

The shawl pin is the design of Beth Richman, who sells her lovely enamel work at street fairs here in the Northwest (Upper Left Coast) and at LaTienda.

Two Leaf Lace Shawls

Today we have some vintage knitting, 'cause sometimes we just run out of current knitting to show you. We'll be doing Vintage occasionally because the original concept for our blog was to have a place to archive our knitting and spinning. Common sense demands that we pull out old projects, take photos and post details so that we can go back through the archives someday and claim to remember knitting that.

By Peggy, in her handspun Corriedale from Grafton Fibers

By Rebecca, in her handspun merino from Ashland Bay

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Fiber Trends.
We knit these back in 'o6 with some of our first handspun. I can clearly see some serious over-twist and over-plying in my purple yarn while Peggy's is superior in every way ~ she's a natural talent at spinning.

Dancing Leaves Lace Shawl

Blocking tools: lump of damp shawl,
towels on rug, pins and blocking wires.

Blocked out to about 25"
from collar to cuff.

Close-up with beads

FO

Knitter: Peggy
Yarn and needles: 900 yards of a Rambouillet/Angora blend from pal Evanne; size 5.5 mm circular needle.
Pattern: Evelyn Clark's Dancing Leaves Lace Shawl, available on her website.
Project Notes: Knitting began January 6th, 2008 and finished January 27th. Choosing a pattern fabulous enough to go with this incredible yarn was challenging and then choosing beads to go with the yarn was intense. I ended up with #6 seed beads in 24k gold plate, 366 of them, from Fusion Beads in Seattle. The finished product: so warm, so cozy! The Friday Knitters passed it around at show-n-tell, trying it on as it circled the envious and now everyone wants to knit one. It fit every body type and looked great. Evanne modeled for the FO photos.

Mt. Tango Targhee

8 oz of Top from MT. Colors

Spun 2-ply

Grafting the 2 ends in the middle
Blocking
Another FO!

Spinner/Knitter: Rebecca

Fiber: Mt. Colors Targhee in the Mountain Tango colorway. Fiber purchased from Woodland Wool Works in June 2006 and spun during 4 days in November, 2006. I came out with about 600 yards of maybe DK weight ~ I forgot to check wpi.
Knitting: Began on December 5th, 2007 and finished December 13th, 2007. The pattern is my own. I took the Lilly of the Valley from Barbara Walker and began two pieces on the same 32" 5mm needle, thus ensuring the two ends have the scallop that I love. I used the bobble only through the first three repeats and then left it out as it uses a lot of yarn and who really likes being slowed down by bobbles anyway? When I was almost out of yarn, I kitchenered my two halves together and waa-la! Wrap!

Wild West Shawl

Blocking

Closeup of bison and hoofprint

Draped nicely on Evanne

Knitter: Peggy
Fiber and Needle: Paternayan Crewel Wool on size US #6 needle.
Pattern: Wild West Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark, available on her website.
Project Notes: Using SRY* is always smugly satisfying. I had a big cone of the Paternayan which I used to bulk up some Jamiesons Sport Weight Tweed for my Braids Cardigan. I used three #8 seed beads at each point of the cast-off edge. Knitting began sometime in December, it took about three weeks and I finished before the end of 2007. The original version is larger, but this size makes the perfect scarf. I loved this pattern. Each section had a different graph which made it fun and kept my interest. I would definitely recommend the Wild West Lace Shawl pattern to beginning & intermediate lace knitters who like a challenge. Next time I knit it (and it will be soon), I'll use a warm, soft 'hairy' handspun yarn -- maybe some fine wool fiber with alpaca or yak or angora blended in. I have all of those just waiting for my spinning wheel to free itself from the current spinning project.

Note-to-self: Next project with Paternayan Crewel, use a larger needle. Maybe a #8.

*Stash Reduction Yarn

Autumn Shawl

The maple in the front yard is creating
a play pen of leaves for the cats,
Austin and Ferris
(they're bad boys, these cats)
2-ply spun on my Betty Roberts
Russian Olive double drive wheel
A lump of damp shawl

Preblocking

I brought in some leaves to compare.

Stretched on blocking wires.

And done!

Spinner/Knitter: Rebecca

Fiber: about 5.7 oz of Corriedale cross, color #32 lot 2 from Reflection Farm.
Project Notes: The fiber was spun early in 2006, about 830 yards of 2-ply. For the knitting, I used a #5 needle and the 10 stitch lace chart called Horseshoe from one of Barbara Walkers books. I used the chart throughout and included a border of lace with #8 seed beads. I've used Horseshoe Lace before in my Scalloped Lace Wrap, a pattern available at a couple of local yarn stores. The Autumn Shawl knitting began October 14th and was finished October 29th. I am very pleased that the FO reflected so well my original vision for the roving. yea!

Estonian Garden Wrap

770 yards of Romeldale/Angora
from Toots LeBlanc

First end done enough to
determine weight needed for the other end.

Wrap completed and ready for blocking.

Blocked

As worn with a shawl pin

Knitter: Rebecca
Fiber: Romeldale Angora (60/40 blend) lace weight from Toots LeBlanc, 764 yards; I also added 42 ivory beads from an old necklace I took apart (a far better use for them than sitting in a box as a necklace I would never wear.)
Pattern: Estonian Garden Wrap and Scarf by Evelyn A. Clark, a Fiber Trends pattern.
Details: I bought this yarn from Michele quite a long time ago and wanted to use it for something special. Being part of the Evelyn Clark KAL led me to the perfect pattern but I was about 80 yards short of pattern requirements. A shorter wrap was ok with me, so I knit one end through the Lily of the Valley and edging, weighed what was left, determined what I would need for the other end and knit the middle until that's all that was left. I ended up with 5.5 yards ~ close enough to using all of it! Knitting began on January 31st, '07 and the wrap was finished on March 29th, '07. Size before blocking: 18X48 and after 20X60.
Notes: I wore this for the first time this weekend at the Whidbey Island Spin-In and I can't believe how many spinners and knitters stopped to look at it. Honestly, my peeps, if you want a sweet little project which will give you maximum impact with your peers, go for an angora blend and an Evelyn Clark pattern ~ what a combo!

The leftovers: 5.5 yards

Black Lace

**Edited on November 5th to remove certain words and photos for personal reasons. Nothing added.**

Before you guys get too excited about how many things Peggy and I knit and spin, I want you to know that I began this project long before we even had a blog, so long ago that I've missed three birthdays since the one it was supposedly a present for and the forth is coming up fast. Finishing it came down to a battle of wills: me against me not wanting to knit with black yarn. Small, fuzzy black yarn. Thankfully there was a solution: Ott lights. I also thank Joann Fabrics for the occasional 50% coupon. I now have three Otts.

I promised myself I'd finish this UFO before I began another and so I give you:

The Scalloped Wrap. In Black.

Close-up of 24k gold beads

Pre-blocking

Blocking

Knitter: Rebecca

Pattern and Fiber: Scalloped Wrap and Scarf designed by me; #7 ndl, 2 skeins of Kid Silk Haze, #8 seed beads in 24K gold from Fusion Beads.
Details: start date August 13, 2004 and an end date of March 21st, 2007. Finished measurement: 18" by 50". I went up a needle size and the pattern calls for 3 skeins but I wanted to see how far two would go. It shortened the length by 20" and makes it a nice little 'over-the-shoulder' wrap or a scarf that is not too long. I love the 24k beads with the black and I have left-overs ~ now I just need to find the perfect yarn to go with them. A not-black yarn. Definitely not black.

Pink Faroese Shawl

Spinner/Knitter: Peggy
Fiber: purchased at Black Sheep Gathering in June 2006 ~ 20 oz of 60% wool, 30% angora and 6% silk from Velta Mack of Sialia Llamas in Sheridan, Oregon who had the wool fiber carded by Ewe Gotta Love 'Em in Dayton, Oregon and then dyed it with Kool-Aid. There's still a very faint pink lemonade smell every once in awhile. She then carded in the silk and angora, both of which remained creamy off-white.
Project info: 5 hanks of 2-ply measuring 1192 yards and weighing 18 oz. Faroese shawl designed by Myrna Stahman, a shawl pattern (the white one) out of a book published in 1999 by XRX ~ The Best Of Knitter's Magazine Shawls and Scarves. Knitting began on February 3rd, 2007 and the shawl was blocked on March 10th, 2007. (see Rebecca's version of this shawl here.)
Comments: I used a US #8 Inox 29" circular with my handspun worsted weight yarn. (The pattern suggested using fingering weight with a #6 needle.) I spun it using Paula Simmons method of spinning for softness and speed, which is very fun if the fiber is adequately prepared, which this just happened to be! The goal of knitting this big shawl was to have something cozy to wrap up in at home. I never planned for outside wearing -- it's just too PINK and HUGE.