Corrected Stats

Finally I found a tape measure and can give you the correct stats for Golden Eye...

Finished dimensions : 60 inches square

I answered this question in the comments, but thought it would be worthwhile to put it here as well.....Did I like knitting the alpaca?

Honestly it is a yes and no answer. I thought the silk blend in with it helped with the texture of the yarn, but the ply on this one is fairly loose and I don't really watch my knitting as closely as I probably should so I ran into several areas where I had only knit through or with one of the plies instead of both.

Now that it is done...yes I love it. This shawl is very light, very airy, just enough bloom to feel snuggly and just enough silk to catch the light. Of course, most of that is probably the pattern - I can't help myself, I just love what Andrea of BadCat Designs creates.

~M

Presenting GoldenEye, a BadCat Summer Project

From Andrea's Blog:

From The Summer Solstice until the Autumnal Equinox, please consider joining me for my third annual Summer event. I was going to call it a project, but that would not be an accurate description. I will be sharing a series of projects, all of which revolve around squares. ******. This first piece is just the tip of the iceberg...

Here is my version of Golden Eye, a lace weight shawl, the first of many squares that are being published by Andrea of BadCat Designs.

Stats:

Yarn : Valley Yarn 2/14 Alpaca Silk handpainted yarn in Tapestry
Needles : KnitPicks Options size 4

Finished Dimensions....uh dunno lost the yard stick somewhere!
Alterations : I knit some extra repeats of the border before moving onto the edging.

Thoughts : This was FABULOUSLY fun!

~M

Just a Quickie to Keep you going

Golden Eye is officially off the needles and taking a well deserved bath before stretching...kind of like yoga, take the tense yarn and relax it. :)

And

A box of goodies from Jade Sapphire. Pretty, huh?

~M

Catching Up with the Squares

The end would have been in sight for the edging on my Golden Eye shawl...except there were not as many beads in the containers as I thought...note to self, even though the containers look the same doesn't mean that they have the same kind of beads in them!....I am several short and need to go buy more. :(

In the meantime I have been catching up with my cotton squares and here you have a glimpse at all five.

~M

New Tiny Needles

I finally got some of the teeny, tiny needles I had been looking for. I wanted extra long cables and extra fine tips which The Backwards Loop was able to hook me up with - after a really short delay while they were special ordered! I have to say the customer service I received more than exceeded my expectations. I used the Contact Us feature to ask about the smallest HiyaHiya needles and got a response in less than an hour!!

I have to go play with fine yarn and finer needles now!

~M

We interupt this edging to bring you...

When this post introduced me Haapsalu Sall, I knew I had to have it and I searched and searched to find someone who could sell it to me. I did find one place, but the shipping and handling was more than the book! Encouraged by a friend who thought outside the box I contacted Malle of lullategemised and worked out a trade. Yarn she can't get in Estonia for a book I cannot get in America.

The book arrived today and the yarn will go out tomorrow, I was waiting for the "perfect" inspiration and I hope I found it!

Now does anyone know a good American candy to trade for some fabulous chocolate?

~M

Escaping from the Edging

I am not quite halfway through the edging for my GoldenEye....have you met me? I get tired of edging very quickly unless I have something else to pass the time as well. I got some done while watching Torchwood. Not sure how I feel about the way it ended. As a parent I had problems with the entire storyline. But enough about television.

Along with some knitting I am not at liberty to show I have almost caught up with the rest of the squares. We have Dulcimer in both wool and cotton (really they are different, I just grabbed from the bags and didn't even think about how close those colors are!) A finished Violin in wool and almost finished in cotton...but have you looked at THE BLOG...I called it! I need some more yarn to make a string quartet.

I better go hide now, you have all seen the yarn that has walked into the house the past few weeks....someone will probably throw something at me!

Miles to Go

A little yarn to brighten my day..still miles to go on the edging. I haven't even had a chance to knit LAST weeks square and already this weeks is out.

Cross Post from Webster Kids

What Webster Kids do for July 4th

Two out of Three are ready

So far, I have three projects on the needles for the Summer Squares Suite, a wool blanket (this square is for that) a cotton blanket and GoldenEye shawl. The wool and the cotton are ready for the next chart which comes out tomorrow, Golden Eye still has several repeats of the border to go.

I can't wait to see what comes up next!

~M

Still a ways to go

Summer Squares is still going strong, I plan on adding some extra repeats of the border to my GoldenEye before I add the edging, but am taking a break by knitting the wool version of my Double Bass square.

There should be pictures of that added later.

~M

Unveiling

I hope it is all that you hoped for, when I opened it I can say that I was thrilled!

Let me present my first purchase from Land O Lace, Let me assure it when I say first I mean that I think there will be many more purchases...and I haven't even swatched with it yet!

We have a selection of five of the lace weights in Just Abouts colorways. I love the slight color changes that will not cover up a lace pattern. Go check them out and tell Bev that Mary sent you!

~M

Define Diet

When you say the word DIET people immediately think of reducing calories...or in the case of Yarn Diet, reducing stash.

Dictionary.com says :
–noun
1. food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health: Milk is a wholesome article of diet.
2. a particular selection of food, esp. as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.
3. such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight: No pie for me, I'm on a diet.
4. the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group: The native diet consists of fish and fruit.
5. food or feed habitually eaten or provided: The rabbits were fed a diet of carrots and lettuce.
6. anything that is habitually provided or partaken of: Television has given us a steady diet of game shows and soap operas.

It says more, but you can click the link to see the rest.

Look what showed up here today, among other things enough KnitPicks (cheap) sock yarn for all the Christmas socks I plan to knit, some more needles to put projects on and a wonderful package that I will share with you later....is the suspense killing you?

~M