Lace Knitting

By the end of the weekend I was ready for some serious lace knitting. I've got one secret project that I need to finish and another one I could do with casting on but neither of them are urgent so I decided to allow myself a few days off from secret knitting and cast on something I've been itching to do for a while.

I sat down with some stitch dictionaries and my squared notebook and a pencil and started charting out some stitch patterns I've been wanting to do for a while. When I was trying to work out how best to combine them, I started charting out some different shapes and ended up wiht something completely different to what I intended to do. As you can see I ended up with a rathr large chart. I'm working on a rectangular version first but I'm thinking I may do a triangular verson or faroese style shawl too.

I cast on for version 1 in stocking stitch and got this far:

Then I had some worries. Was the tension too loose? Did I really want stocking stithc (which this swatch is knitted in) or garter stitch? Would it look better with beads around the edge too? So I ripped out this piece and started again with smaller needles, in garter stitch and with more beads.

I'm much happier. The diamond shapes look more pronounced and I htink the beads around the edging looks better. The sides should be straight but it's not easy to get straight sides when pinning out, I would need my blocking wires for that. So I'm continuing with this swatch, which isn't really a swatch but the beginning of the actual shawl. I'm planning to work it in two identical halves, grafted together in the middle. I'm enjoying this piece but I've got to follow the chart quite closely which is not good for my neck and the beading is slowing me down. Once I reach full width and move into hte main body of the shawl I'll cut down on the beading. I can't cope wiht all these beads throughout the whole shawl. I'm also worried whether or not I'll have enough beads. I bought the bead tube at a bead shop in Totnes, so I may have to make another trip to see if I an get more. We'll see how it goes. This will be long-term project although it would be nice to finish it in time for Wool Fest which is in June.

I finished my second larger Scrolls cowl too on Monday. Here's the small one blocked:

I couldn't get a decent flat picture of the large one so here the two are together:

The colours aren't quite right, they're rich and dark purple with the bottom one being black with  a purple sheen. Looks fab. I need to get proper modelled shots. I'd hoped I may be able to get the new version of the pattern sorted out by this week but that's not giong to happen. maybe next week. I've started a large versionm of the wrist warmers which is my easy knitting at the moment. I'm doing those in the Fantasy sock as I'm not sure i've got enough of the Silky Camel.

Today is election day here. I can't vote unfortunately. I'm not a British citizen and as Norway won't allow dual citizenship and i don't want to give up my Norwegian citizenship I never will be able to vote here. It bugs me quite a bit as I've lived here half my life and I've paid taxes here for most of that time, so I think I should be able to vote. I'm very interested in politics and we watch news every day and quite often watch political shows. Having said that, I'm also kind of relieved I can't vote as I would have no idea who to vote for. there are things i like and don't like about all the main political parties. if you can vote, I encourage you to. Voting is a privilege and a duty as far as I'm concerned and when you're not allowed to vote you appreciate that so much more.

I'm planning to stay up and watch the beginning of the election broadcast though. I think I may watch the comic version on channel 4. I've got some spinnign lined up. some small samples of the Falkland Merino I dyed last week:

I've not spun any of this fibre and it feels gorgeous so want to test some of it. I've only got tiny tear offs so it will only be a test yarn. I may use it to practice my 'navajo plying' which I'm useless at. I have tried before but never get it right. Anyone know of any good tutorial videos online?  I know I could search Utube and there is some good stuff on there but also a lot of rubbish.

For Sock Variety Club members, I'm going to e-mail you all right now but sock yarn still hasn't arrived. I'm hoping it may come today and as soon as it does turn up it will be dyed.

I'm finally getting around to sorting out a YarnAddict newsletter. Sign up in the sidebar of the blog today and be the first to know about shop updates, new products and other news. I won't send more than one newslette per week and it'll probably be much less than that. And you can opt out at anytime. I won't use your e-mail address for anything else or pass it on to anyone else so it's totally safe.