Extravayarnza

Now that most of my design deadlines have passed I realized I only have a few weeks till my friends wedding. That means the dragon shawl soared back to the center of my attention. In June I had managed to knit to row 122. Then the realization that soon I'd be on the dreaded 3 page wide chart, and the convenient other knitting projects, forced me to hide the dragon for a while.

Friday night I got back to work. As of this morning I finished row 170! A full 10 rows into the 3 page chart. I seem to be surviving. This is possibly the least portable project I've ever knit. I need to be sitting at a table or on the couch with our new Ikea end tables that have legs that slide under the couch so the table is right over your lap. I am totally in love with this project. I think my dragon shawl may be knit in fingering weight, the shawl is a big small for my tastes in lace weight. I'm imagining a deep purple merino/tencel blend...

But, here's the latest on the gift dragon~

The dragon is really created with a variety of stitch patterns that all have a different density & slipped chain stitches that create an outline. The wings are quite exciting. Even the wrong side rows keep you on your toes looking for the yarn-over stitches that need to be dropped (in the wings), the stitches that need to be slipped, plus finding the traveling stitches in the body.
I'm feeling pretty good about getting this done in time. All of the Dark purple has been done since Friday afternoon.

The dragon also brought with it cooler weather. 70s with low humidity... thank goodness!
Last night coming home from seeing the Prairie Home Companion movie we spotted a storm front with rain off in the distance. I managed a shot of the sunset with clear sky on one side & stormy night on the other.

Hello All,
I was feeling in a cheery mood today. The sky was lovely, so here's some Saturday Sky for Sandy.
Mid day through the Wisteria Bush~

Plus a gorgeous sunset from my porch~

I finished the first ball of Alpaca Silk DK on my Knit Bodice. It's a top down raglan which makes for some interesting photography. I'm really happy with the fabric & the color. I'm moving the v to be a bit higher... I'll let you know how that turns out.
Here's a front & a sleeve~

The dragon shawl is also working along. I needed to find a new way to lay out the chart. Currently the chart is about 29" across and will soon be closer to 40" wide. That's a lot of chart!
But you can really see the dragon shaping up~

This was the only light color floor in the house. The shawl isn't even close to this color. It's a much lighter & more intense red. But.. can you see the wings? Aren't they awesome?
Mine definitely will be Emerald Green out of fingering weight Merino/Tencel. I know Audra will love this one.
(for those of you who have been asking for the pattern... it is now available directly from the designer Sharon Winsauer; we should have them in the store fairly soon. I will warn you that I'm still finding typos in the pattern, nothing that you couldn't easily see and know what to do. Mostly some funny looking symbols.)
Row 215 finished.

Did you ever wake up with an amazing headache? The kind where all you can figure out is that your body went to some fab all night party and didn't invite you?
Wow... I didn't know my eyes and temples could throb visibly!
Thank Goodness for Motrin... a perfect sunny day...and a cat that is too cute for words~

Plus one of my handdyed yarn stopped by for a visit. Freshly knit into a lovely pair of socks!

Thank you Lisa for bringing these by. I was quite worried that this colorway would pool, but check it out! This is Amber in the Rainbow colorway (I think there is still one more in the shop...). I have lots of sock yarn winging it's way here... keep your eyes open for more of the Wool/Nylon, plus two new yarns Merino/Tencel & 100% Merino (Gems Merino Pearl...yum!)
A super neat new yarn did find it's way to the shop today.

Not impressed? Yep it's a big ribbon yarn...It is mostly merino wool.... still no?
How about this normal unsuspecting yarn knit up~

Who'd have Thunk?
There is a special technique for knitting this yarn that creates big waving ruffles. I think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread. I already have a gorgeous sweater design in my head that tastefully uses this for trim...
The Secret?
You knit through the yarn!
If you always knit through the same side you leave the opposite color free to ruffle along in a giant purl ridge. Super easy, super quick, super results!

Okay, I know this is already a big post, but Bezzie asked for some Dragon pics. He's getting a bit big on the needles to spread him out for a full shot, but here's the beginning of his head plus his body with wing join & an almost finished wing!

I'm now on the four page wide chart... sigh...
I managed to track the dragon down in his natural habitat so you can all see why this shawl is taking so long...

Two end tables to hold the full chart... a huge strait line so I can follow along (and the all important pen to mark off a tally of the rows)... my true color light so I can see the stitches...a third end table to hold my drink (this was made necessary after my mom spilled red wine all over one of the charts)... and a fourth end table to hold the written instructions & chart legend (and a snack). What you can't see is the go knit pouch to hold the ball of yarn so my cats don't run off with it. Usually it hangs off the arm of the chair.
That's a lot of required equipment!
I'll be so happy to finish this shawl and start on the Peacock Feathers Shawl (but more on that tomorrow... hint hint...)

Gosh I now have some good news I can share with you all!
First up, this is my 200th post on my blog. How cool is that?
My first blog-a-versary is coming up in less than two weeks.
Lots of celebrating to do... maybe even a drawing or a contest to plan...

Next up, that really big news that I couldn't share earlier this week.
I've been accepted into Cat Bordhi's Visionary Retreat.

This is the description from her site...
On San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest
The Third Visionary Retreat - Self-Publishing for Knit Designers
The first and second Visionary Retreats (March, 2005 and January 2005) were such an extraordinarily rich experience for all involved that Cat will teach a third group of knit designers how to happily and successfully marry the mechanics of self-publishing with the magic of knit design and creativity. Because of the enormous interest in this workshop, which can only take 8 new people (8 previous participants will also join us and share their accumulated knowledge)

Yes I have a book idea, I've been cooking it up for a little over a year now. I pitched it to the selection committee & now I get to spend a fantastic week on San Juan Island working with Cat & an amazing group of knit designers all cooking up books.
Wow (I'm still reeling from the shock)

The dragon is also coming to life. I've finished the dragon & just have 6 rows of background stitch before I start binding-off and shaping the points.
The head turned out so cool.

The shawl should be ready to start the edging on Sunday.
I also started the peacock feathers shawl in my peacock lace yarn to show you all how it knits up. I quite pleased with how the colors are interacting.

Click on the pic for a much better view.

One last thing...
For those of you in or near Lansing, I just finished our Fall class Schedule. I'm teaching quite a few classes, Lynn H is also teaching some fun projects, Sarah will be back starting in September, and Sharon will be teaching her Lace Workshop.
The full class list can be downloaded here~ Download ClassflyerSeptDec06.pdf

Today the Dragon Shawl & I had a big day.
We spent the weekend down at the Great Lakes Folk Fest. Great music, great food, & lots of creative people.
Especially over at the guild tent.
This afternoon I worked with our local knitting guild showing off the guilds handiwork and chatting with the crowd.
I think the knitters really came though bringing in some impressive samples to show the public.


That's Lynn up there with her incredible knitted self portrait.
My other favorite bit about the Folk Fest is that it's only 4 miles away & the wooded bike path runs almost all the way there. Some beautiful flowers were blooming along the path.

The other bit of celebration is that last night I bound off the dragon shawl!!!

He's pre-blocked and ready for edging. He's also much much bigger than I expected. I think he has a 7 or 8 foot wing span as it is and the edging will add another 4 inches on each side! Perhaps the fact that I knit loose & that this yarn really stretches made a bigger difference than I anticipated.

I started the edging at the Folk Fest, the chains look so nice around the edge.

The progress on the dragon Shawl continues...
I managed to finish the edging on the first side today!
In my continuing effort to find a background that provides good contrast for the lace I introduce you to a bunch of magnets & my front door~

What I need is a big white magnetic wall. That would rock!
The border does look really nice. That cross in the chain is a bit tricky to memorize. I finally was confidant enough to put the chart away with about 1 repeat to go...
Luckily the chart is the same for the other side. Not being glued to the chart does help speed up the knitting.

Since the border is knit with the shawl instead of perpendicular to it I have some theories working through my head on how to knit the border at the same time as the body. I'll be trying that out on the next one...

Ok, a bit of store news, We've gotten 5 huge boxes in so far this week! All full of new Fall yarns. Lots of new colors of Kathmandu Aran & DK. Several new OnLine yarns. New Crystal Palace. Plus quite yet more Sock yarn!
To find room on the shelves more yarn is being constantly added to the sale section. There's now lots of feltable yarns & much requested Sock Yarn on sale!
I'm expecting a whole bunch of Socks That Rock to arrive anytime now.

Just a heads up, You all might want to try and catch a rerun of the latest Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. Today Mike Rowe went to an Alpaca Farm to learn how to shear an Alpaca & spin yarn! How cool!
I missed the first showing but another one starts in 12 minutes so I'll catch you all later.

Okay, I just had an it's a car cozy moment. So, please pardon the late night crummy flash photos. I think I'll find some reassurance just writing this down...

First off,
Blocking wires are the best thing ever created! I've never gotten a shawl with such even strait edges.

Second,
This shawl took up a bit more of the floor than I was expecting~

This seriously freaked me out.

For scale I brought in my Pacific North West Shawl that's 80" wide & 40" down the center.

So, it's about as wide as the purple shawl, but tapers down much slower. I think I can live with that (or I guess I think Audra can live with that). It's still tons bigger than Sharon's original.

As you can see Siouxsie likes it, so it must be okay.

I'll take him out for some better pictures tomorrow in the day light.

One last note: I spent a good part of the afternoon messing around with my blog. Yes, I know it had been showing up funny on some browsers. I think all the problems are solved now & all 3 columns should be in line.
Yippee!

So,
The dragon Shawl is officially finished!

Stats
Heere Be Dragons designed by Sharon Winsauer
Weights in at a respectable 75gm
Used about 1100 yd
Yarn: A discontinued yarn from Grinasco. Merino/Cashmere blend, it is somewhere between cobweb & lace weight. I hand dyed it a brown red.
Needles: 26" CPY Bamboo size 2
Notes: I think this is a fantastic pattern. I think I would use a slightly heavier lace weight yarn ( like fino from Alpaca w/ a Twist or Zephyr) to help the definition of the patterns. Hopefully we will have this pattern in stock soon. I'll let all you know when it's here!

Peacock Shawl

Gosh, this yarn is knitting up so much better than I imagined. It's not really pooling at all. Every once and a while the blue & purple bits like up for just a few stitches & rows and look like the eye of a peacock feather. In two evenings of knitting I've finished the first 78 rows of the chart. You can see near the edge that I'm into the second lace pattern. This shawl is a much quicker knit than the dragon shawl mostly because it's repetitive. However it shifts lace pattern often enough & has little fun bits like double yarn-overs that keep my attention.
I have to go and update the shop page, but there is only 1 skein of this yarn left!

Print O' The Wave Shawl

I now have all the yarn spun!
I did end up with about 1150 yards of the green & 300 of the blue, so I'm not worried about running short.
You shouldn't hear about this project again for a little bit. I only like to work on one shawl at a time & the peacock shawl is already going.

A side note:
I spent the last 2 afternoon searching for a basket to hold my spinning accessories. It needed a lid (to keep cats from the roving); needed to be big enough for my lazy kate, extra flyer, extra bobbins, and roving for my current spinning project; needed to be smooth on the inside so the roving didn't get caught on it; and needed to be small enough & attractive enough to store in the living room.

Here's what I finally found at Linen & Things~



Isn't it perfect? It was also one of the least expensive boxes I found. I highly recommend them!

Now off to join Siouxsie in a nights slumber...

Hi,
Okay, so there seems to be some misconception going about that Alpaca with a Twist Fino is a fingering weight yarn. I will warn you upfront this may turn into a bit of a rant, but I'll try to keep it as polite as possible.
The main cause of this problem is the CYCA yarn standard system. This was a wonderful idea. Giving each size yarn a number and then if it's on the ball band & on the pattern it would be super simple to substitute yarns. Unfortunately when they divided yarn sizes up they only made  6 distinctions. Therefore Lace weight & fingering are the same category. (In fact my favorite one is that all yarn from 4 to 5 stitches  per inch is classified as worsted & that can really throw you a curve ball when attempting a sweater pattern)
So, while watching over a discussion about what to substitute for Fino when knitting dragon shawl I wasn't too surprised to see this issue since Alpaca with a Twist does use the CYCA sizes on their ball bands. I promise you, Fino isn't a Fingering weight.

To help prove my point I have a photo comparison.
(I put the photo in B&W to eliminate color distortion)

So, the top yarn is Jaggerspun Merino 5,040 yards per pound. Definitely a true lace weight
Next is Alpaca with a Twist Fino 4,000 yards per pound. Still a pretty true lace weight, especially since alpaca is heavier than wool, so the yards per pound is generally less for the same yarn weight. (I measured the WPI as 21-22)

I couldn't find any Trekking at the moment I was taking the picture, but it's one of the thinnest sock yarns and is still only 2,112 yards per pound. That's a huge jump from Fino!

Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock is next at 1,965 yards per pound.
And finally Socks that Rock light weight rings in at 1,355 yards per pound.

I hope that comparison speaks for itself and will help some of you who are looking to substitute. I used an old Grinasco yarn that was a bit too light (defiantly a cobweb lace weight), but it still showed the pattern nicely. I think that Zypher or Helens Lace would both be nice substitutes. I had about 1500 yards of my yarn and still had a good sized ball left after knitting the dragon shawl.