Finished All ... except... 6.26.11

Well, it only took losing 3 kids  (3/8) to finish the knitting part of my summer shawlette. My 3 wonderful God Children have gone home to live with their father.  You saw photos of Holly in the volleyball pics in an earlier post.  I am sure you will be seeing photos of all of them if you continue to read this fabulous blog (all 0 of you who are following it), as I intend to knit their Christmas gifts...

So here is a photo of the finished ... except shawlette:

So what is the except?  Weaving in the yarn from when I had to add another ball, and then blocking it.  Here is a close-up of the pattern:

The color is gorgeous.  The feel is fabulous (silk and bamboo).  The shawlette is indeed a shawlette meaning TINY.  Perhaps I should have really looked at the finished dimensions before I decided not to expand it...  But it is very very pretty and did I forget to mention FINISHED?  except... Well I shall weave in ends today, and I have to buy the special soap for soaking then blocking, but, it should be completely finished by tonight.  As it is so tiny, I am thinking of giving it to my niece who is 5.

Next exciting news is that I have now crocheted my first Rose and 2 rose leaves using the Irish Lace book.

I am noticing that all of my photos are blurry.  This is disconcerting since my idiot-proof camera is supposed to auto-focus.  Since I have an astigmatism, and rarely wear glasses for it, I can't always tell if something is blurred or if it is just my eyes...  Hmmm.  I am going to post this anyway, then try to take some better photos for the next post.  Perhaps if I held the camera a bit more steady?

Anyway, I really want to make this "opera bag" from the Irish Lace book.  As far as I can tell, it is just a collection of motifs:  flowers, spirals, stars, leaves, etc., laced together with a cool lace border and then a rope strap.  I plan to make the various designs in the book and when I have enough for 2 sides of a bag, lace them together.  By "lace them together" I mean, use the lace crochet techniques in the book for connecting motifs.  This will be certainly long-term, but each piece will be short.  My favorite kind of project since it will seem that I am continually finishing stuff!  I am reading the directions for the Wild Rose.  The first line says something like "make a small loop of pl."  the PL means Picot loops, ok, that is easy, but what is a small loop?  how small?  One of the interesting things about Irish Lace patterns is that they aren't exactly patterns, since as the author says, every lace maker uses different tension, different size stitches, etc, so they can only suggest the number of stitches certain things will use.  I of course, in new things, like EXACT PATTERNS with EXACT NUMBERS.  But I will try hard not to freak out and just be creative and trust my own judgment. After all, if it is too big, I can just rip it out.

O!  I also found a new blog that I am following on my kindle.  It is    Knitqwik by Marla Theodoro.  So far it is a new pattern with every post.  That is about it.  Not a lot of chat, just a complete "free" pattern.  But since I pay $.99/month, that is a lot of free patterns every month.  Also it has the market bag pattern I saw mentioned in another blog I read (forget which one), and really want to make.  If that bag isn't too hard/long, I might make some for my sisters for Christmas gifts.  How Green of me.

I wanted to say also, that not only did I lose my 3 God Children  (they left Friday morning), but also my youngest son who left last night for 5 weeks in Pittsburgh to dance/study ballet with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School.  I am down to half my kids.  Will I get a lot of knitting/crocheting done?  or will I just mope around missing the kids?

C. A. Losi

Finished with Part 3 6.23.11

My summer mystery shawlette (from WendyKnits) is almost done.  I am so excited to actually finish a project. Of course I haven't actually finished it yet.  But I have finished part 3.  You can see my purse in the bottom left corner, and my shoe in the bottom right corner of this fabulous photo.  I took it with my crappy phone at the dentist's office where I finished this section.  I have already printed out the last section, Part 4, and am ready to go.  As this shawlette started on the bottom with a giant cast on row, and is getting smaller by 4 stitches every other row, it is now knitting up VERY quickly.  However.  I kind of wish I had paid more attention to the finished specs.  It is indeed a "shawlette" and seems to be a bit small.  I was thinking of giving it to my mom at some future date, but I am not sure it is big enough.   I might give it to one of my little nieces as a dress up piece.  I shall have to see the finished piece to decide.

Anyway, I am excited to have finished another section.  Tonight I am volunteering at the swim meet so I will be totally busy.  But tomorrow I take my god kids to the airport, there is opportunity for knitting while I wait for their plane to take off....

C. A. Losi

Summer Mystery Shawlette Part 3 6.20.11

I had to drive kids to the dentist today, so I made really good progress on the shawlette!  I am on the third iteration of part 3.  I now have only 1 repeat of the 12 stitch repeatable section in the center.  It is almost done.  The only problem is that my kindle is no longer downloading that blog.  So I am going to have to go online and check the blog and print out the instructions beyond part 3.  I hate that.  I really love reading these knitting blogs on my kindle.  I have no reason why they suddenly stop downloading.

I have made another "rose petal" in Irish lace crochet.  I am now working on a rose.  I will post some photos soon.

Trying to knit more each day.  I didn't walk today though =(  BAD GIRL.

C. A. Losi

Hello?

June 16, 2011

I am still SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY working on 3 projects.  I have not picked up the square from James's afghan in a week.  I am afraid I will not remember how to follow that pattern =(.

I have not picked up the puppets in even longer.  I have actually moved them to my office.  Out of sight, out of mind.

I am still knitting on the shawlette.  I keep separating the directions from the bag with the project which makes it hard to work on it in the car.  Today, Luke has a massage.  That means about 1 hour of straight knitting. I should make some progress.  The shawl begins at the bottom and gets smaller and smaller with each row.  It is actually knitting fairly quickly now.

I am still fooling around with the Irish lace book.  There is an "opera bag" project in it that is fabulous.  When I finish up the shawlette, I will start on that.  I will make a ton of small flowers and leaves, then basically connect them together with chains.  I will try to scan the photo in the book somehow and post it.  It is not so much a "pattern" as an idea.  You could make what ever flowers, motifs you want, then just connect them together, and put in a silk or some other fabric liner.

My god children (who we have been fostering this year) are going home in 1 week.  Also, my youngest son is leaving the next day to dance in Pittsburgh for 5 weeks.  Then one week later, number 4 child (also a son) is leaving for 3 weeks in France. The house will be quite empty.  I hope to get into a really nice knitting, writing, walking, Aion schedule =)  Maybe I will finish up all my projects and get to start some socks!

I'm excited.

C. A. Losi

mea culpa 6.10.11

1. I got my daughter's copy of the new Interweave Crochet magazine this week.  I have dropped EVERYTHING and started trying to crochet Irish lace.  Not kidding.  Totally obsessed with it.  So far I have successfully crocheted a triangle and 2 rose leaves.  I downloaded this book for about $3 on my kindle (Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers) and have been playing with the motifs.  Totally cool.

2. I keep thinking I will finish my puppets, but have been playing way too much Aion Aion: Assault on Balaurea.  I really need to get a schedule set where I dedicate at least 1 hour in the morning to knitting/crocheting, and another in the evening.  I am determined to finish these.

3. I haven't made much progress on the latest square of James's afghan either!  I am at the last weird place in the center square, and need to be able to just sit for about 30 min. with no interruptions to do that row.  Then I will start on the mitered outer section.


4. I have made some progress on the Summer Mystery Shawlette that I am knitting as part of the KAL (knit a long) with the WendyKnits blog.  I was so proud last post because I was sure that I had discovered a flaw in the pattern.  I went back and actually READ THE DIRECTIONS, not just the chart, and noticed that where I thought she was 1 stitch short, she had directed that the section marker be slipped off, and 1 stitched stolen from the next section...   Wow, I feel foolish.  I am still proud that I can read charts.  Perhaps someday I will be proud of my ability to read directions.


5. There is a giant pile of laundry waiting to be folded.


Both my cats are sleeping upstairs.


Got to love cats.


C. A. Losi