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!