Join us on this lace adventure!
This lace capelet appears on the cover of Vogue Knitting Magazine Spring/Summer ‘10, and it is our summer knit along project by popular demand.
We’ll cast on Thursday, June 10th, around 5:30 p.m. You’ll need #7 and #8 circular needles and Debbie Bliss Prima yarn. We want to make sure everyone has her favorite color, so dream over the color card and call us with your choice soon: 314-849-9276.
I just realized I’ve been so busy that I haven’t written a post in several weeks! Sorry, everyone!
It all began with the Fall Market in St. Charles on September 27th. Unlike usual trade shows, we were able to buy merchandise on the spot and bring it home. Wow, was that fun! I came home with a trunk load that included Namaste bags and Buddy Cases plus JaJaJa Purses. You’ve probably heard about Namaste’s incredible bags: how beautiful and functional they are. JaJaJa Purses was new to me, but I loved their ideas. They recycle fabrics of all kinds (thrift shop clothes, drapes, upholstery fabric, decorator samples, etc.) into a variety of purses and needlework bags. What an earth-friendly way to make great totes!
I couldn’t pass up the Buffalo Gold laceweight yarns, either. They are so luxuriously soft and warm. We have the pure buffalo, buffalo mixed with bamboo, and a blend of buffalo, cashmere, silk and tencel. Lynette is knitting up a sample scarf for the shop and loves its softness and surprising strength.
I need to get back to work, but I promise to continue soon!
I’ve been busily working on the Leaf Lace Shawl that’s the project for a class I’m teaching at the shop. It’s going very well, and I’m enjoying it a lot.
At the bottom we’re attaching one bead at the point of each leaf, so I went shopping for beads at my favorite bead store, Lady Bug Beads. Husband, who is an amateur photographer and has a great eye for color, was with me and helped me look for just the right bead. My autumn colors proved to be hard to match, but he found one that had a perfect aged-ivory look. I happily bought what I needed, and off we went. Sounds like a happy ending, right?
When I was ready to attach them, I turned them over and realized there’s a reason they look like old bone. They are miniature skulls!!! Rofl! Husband wasn’t wearing his glasses, and I have no excuse. It cracked me up so completely that I’m using them anyway, but facing the eye sockets to the wrong side of the shawl. Now all those little boneheads will be staring at my backside!
All finished! What a wonderful day!
If only I were a better photographer! Daughter’s shawl has around 1000 pearls in it. It was knitted from Fiddlesticks’ Zephyr (wool and silk) in Ivory which was a perfect match for her dress, which also had pearls on it. The pattern was in Vogue Knitting Magazine in the Holiday ‘07 issue. I really enjoyed knitting this and each stitch holds love and hope for a wonderful future.
This shawl started out to be for Daughter but found a happy home with her Maid of Honor instead. It is Fiddlesticks’ Peacock Feathers pattern made from Fiddlesticks’ Zephyr (wool and silk) in Ivory. It was a joy to knit this, and the picture simply does not do the pattern justice!
At last I’ve finished all three shawls for Daughter’s wedding. There’s only one more to block. Pictures next week. Promise!!!
Where have I been? If you read the title of this post, you can probably guess! Deep in depression and mired in frustration. It’s all about the last wedding shawl, the blue one I don’t care for. Naturally it hates me back…
Everything was going well through the body, then we got to the border. Only 30 rows to go and I was smelling victory.
First 4 rows: Hmmm, doesn’t look like the picture yet. The eyelets aren’t lining up. Oh, well, it’s a Knitters pattern, it’s probably me. Surely I just need to knit a little farther.
Row 12: The pattern is wrong, wrong, wrong! I’ll have to rip. Let’s see 12 rows at 500 stitches per row equals ARGGGH!
Next day: I think I’ve got this figured out. Let’s finish up!
Row 6B: Still not right!!! Ripping again! Vocabulary not even remotely printable.
Next day: Barbara Walker, my faithful friend, do you have a 6-st repeat lace pattern I can use as a shawl border? Bless you forever, dearest!!!
Row 28C: Victory is only 2 rows away! Is it safe to breath yet? We’ll see….
I’ve finished wedding shawl number 2 and moved immediately into wedding shawl 3. No pictures yet because every second is spent knitting.
Shawl #2 is for Daughter herself to wear. It’s from Vogue Knitting Magazine last winter. I’m doing it in Zephyr wool/silk from Fiddlesticks plus 4 tubes of beads. I’m pretty fast with a beading crochet hook these days! 
Shawl #3 is for her friend who is acting as her hostess. It’s lace weight in shades of blue. The pattern is the Midori Green Shawl from Knitters Summer ‘08 (page 28). It is my least favorite of the three in color and yarn. Someone gave me the yarn to try, and I’m not loving it like the others I’ve been working with. It came from a large mail order company known for its low prices — which is all I’ll say.
What happened to the Peacock Shawl, herein after known as Shawl #1? It will go to the Maid of Honor, Daughter’s single attendant in this manageably small wedding (I’m not nuts enough to do this for 8 bridesmaids!!!!). She’s seen it and loves it, but doesn’t know it’s for her. Surprise!!
Gotta go. I hear my Addi Turbo Lace needles whispering my name in the dark. Pictures soon, promise!
