Hex

Last year in June I got me some Kauni Lace yarn in the coveted colourway EQ from Tausendschoen. Once I received it I marveled at the size of the skein (280 g of lace yarn) and stashed it away. I had no idea what to do with it.




Then came Hex. For the last year or so I haven't been spending a lot of attention to knitty but some day I scanned the patterns of the Fall 2009 issue.

And there it was. The project ideal for my Kauni Lace in the coveted colourway EQ. Hex.

I felt attracted to the Stockinette heavy lace with the hexagon pattern - though I knew the size and form of the shawl wouldn't work for me. Not a problem, I have lots of yarn and can make it longer. So I wound my yarn into the biggest cake of lace yarn I have ever seen.




I started with a small swatch for the foam pattern, and didn't like how it came out. (Hm, even to me it seems now I'm a bit hard to please...) The Kauni is way different from the soft Malabrigo Lace and the drop stitches just didn't seem right. No foam then, I decided. I cast on and added one repeat, to make my shawl as big as I dared. I think my Hex sans Foam (Ravelry link) is going to be about 75" long and I haven't even figured out how wide it is. Huge, that's for sure.

I was worried that the pattern would become tedious over time, but the colour changes in the yarn kept it from getting there. I am still enchanted by the gradual changes from one colour to the next, and knowing the pattern by heart helps to enjoy the knitting process as I go.



The Kauni lace works up beautifully, and I do love the crunchiness (is that a word?) of the yarn. I'm sure it'll soften up some and so I'm not worried about any itch factor. My yarn cake has shrunk considerably over the last two months, and I'll just go on until there's nothing left.

By now I have only 67 grams to go, there will be seven colour repeats once I'm done.

I been busy

With life. You know how it goes.

With knitting. Small things for small people.

With working. Now, that's a lie. Though, it depends on what one calls 'work'. So maybe not.

Here are some of my favourite FO's:

The "Lili Kimono" - I think Egg just looks übercute in it. Two balls of Diakeito Diamusee Fine I had in my stash did the trick. I'm working on the pattern. The sample knitter is already waiting for it. And there will be a vest version, also.


This is the "Shishiza Cardigan" - it was a gift for my nephew's first birthday. It's worked from yarn from my stash.


This scarf is inspired by the "Baktus Scarf" - I modified it and as you can see it looks great as a head scarf also! This one is Malabrigo Worsted. What can I say, it's just the perfect pink.


The "Purpleneck" - Egg can totally grow into this sweater. Lorna's Laces DK Swirl Blackberry. Love it.


And, last but not least and only finished yesterday (sewing on the darn flowers!): "Flower Power". It's also large so Egg can wear it for a long while. (First thing she did was try to pick off the flowers...) It's made from Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. Who else could get away with colour combinations like that??

More than one year later

Remember last Summer when I was put on bed rest when pregnant? Some of that time was spent in the Hospital, which was no fun at all. While being there Mary and Molly Ann brought me two skeins of Schaefer Anne, which is one of my all time favourite sock yarns. They even brought me a set of dpns to get knitting. Problem was, I didn't feel like knitting socks.

So after looking through some pattern books which Rolf brought me I cast on for what I thought a small cardigan. I had to think of that baby in my belly a lot, after all. It turned out a bit large, I thought Egg might be able to wear it in Spring, but it is only now that it fits. I didn't use the whole skein, and it's quite loosely knit on a 3.5 mm needle. The body is a lace pattern and the sleeves have garter ridges, that can be found in the raglan decreases also.

Here, have look again:

Kamouraska

I am very pleased to announce that I have a pattern for sale!

“Where the rushes grow on the edge of the water” - that’s how the Natives named the place in Québec, famous for the novel of the same name by Anne Hébert and even now called one of the most beautiful villages in the province.

Left and right of the small pattern rivulet in the middle of this shawl, the leafy pattern – while not exactly rushes - ‘grows’ row by row into the triangles that will envelop your shoulders and keep them warm. I deliberately did without a scalloped edge and finished with a picot bind-off since I do like to wear my shawls as scarves – they get scrunched up and worn in damp weather, and there is nothing more futile than a lovingly blocked scalloped edge that gets rained or snowed upon.

The pattern includes instructions for the lace weight version as well as the fingering weight version. I used my hand spun lace weight but any lace weight yarn with 640 yds or more is enough to knit the smaller version. For the larger version I used two balls of Silk Garden Sock yarn, about 600 yds.


Measurements, approximately:
smaller version 58” (from tip to tip)x22”
larger version 70” (from tip to tip)x26”


You can buy the pattern as direct download in my ravelry store if you feel so inclined, or click on the 'add to cart' button on the sidebar and pay by Paypal. I'll send you an email with the pfd of the pattern after payment is received.

Many thanks to Mary and Jessie for playing model and allowing me to take pictures!

32 + 4

That's how far along I am today. Literature says that Egg can get hiccups now, and she does! I can certainly feel it, and sometimes I can see it, too. It's fascinating. I'm still on bed rest, but the good doctor said once I am at full 34 weeks that can be amended, since then it's alright if I should have her early. I can't wait! I still don't have a stroller, car seat (most important at the moment), and some or other little things I wanted to buy and couldn't.

As I said, I have been knitting. This is the Lacy Cardigan from the Spring 2008 Reynolds kids book "Best Friends: 14 Designs to knit for Children and Dolls" (#82451): I didn't use the recommended yarn, but some or other alpaca mix from my stash.




This is knit from less than a skein of Schaefer Anne (a very special gift, I might add). When I started it I didn't have a measuring tape to get gauge so I guessed the size, and it turned out big. Way big. Egg will grow into it, I'm sure. Next spring it'll be just perfect. There is no pattern, since I made it up as I went along.



There's one more thing in the make, but I haven't finished sewing it up yet.

Isn't she lovely?

Though spindles do not tend to have a gender, to me it's always a 'she', just like boats are always female. Looking at the size of this particular she, I just cannot imagine her to be a 'he'.



I got this one at Golding Fiber Tools for which I've had a weakness for quite some time now.





This particular model I chose since I wanted to make sure I'd be able to spin as finely as I wanted to - and boy, it works like a charm! I wouldn't call the outcome 'thread' but it's close. "Tsunami" (that's how the spindle is called) weighs only 0.5 oz, and spinning the merino/bamboo mix is as easy as pie.




This is my first trial with the new spindle. I don't know what the fibre is, I was given a sample with the merino/bamboo mix but I suspect it's a superwash 100% merino. It is sooo soft - and I managed to get a 2-ply laceweight.

In other news

Here's the gifted yarn I promised pictures of:


One of my favourite fiber mixes ever: 70% merino wool/30% silk
It's called Sherlock and it's from Artfibers. The coolest thing is that it's a chainette. (I took this picture a while ago, today there was no sun to be had in Montreal.)

So, what do you do when you wake up at 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning and realize by 5.45 a.m. that there is no way you are going back to sleep? I got up, made myself a big cup of coffee and started a new project. Of course. What else would one do?

It's the Skater's Overtop from "Knitting Classic Style" by Veronik. It's shown in Kid Silk Haze in the book, but my gauge was spot on with the lace weight from Black Bunny Fibers, so I plugged on. From a quarter to six to maybe noon - and then I had to stop because my shoulder hurt somewhat fierce. It still does, but I got about 8.5" done. I wish it was my wrist, then I knew what to do about it, as it is I am unhappily using stinking Rub A535 - it smells like Root Beer gone bad and I do know only one single person who admitted she loves that smell.

I had planned to come up with a design on my own for that yarn, but this is so much easier. (I have more laceweight, do not fear. Plenty for my own ideas. Should they ever take root.)

En plus

The red shawl is finished. I would't be me if I hadn't made a mistake in the first row of the garter stitch part after painstakingly undoing all the other mistakes I generated in the lace part and only discovering it after I was all done and the thing blo..., uhm, steamed.

"Mooooom, there's a hole in my knitting where it doesn't beloooong!" (her answer would most probably be: "and what am I supposed to do about it?")




When I showed the shawl to Melanie, one of the knit thing attendees Wednesday night, she said it was funny how we have to point out the mistakes we made even though other people (even knitters) wouldn't find them. What I want to say, I guess, is that I am trying really hard to be ZEN about it and not to worry about one little extra hole.

It's hard. Oh, so hard.