On The Home Stretch!

I am not a pro photographer, and getting the right light is tricky! In the pictures that follow, the middle one is more true to color, the yarn is a mix of rich blues and periwinkle and I love it! First picture is pattern 12 Field of Corn. Woo Hoo! It is the final pattern of BadCatDesigns Summer Sampler Shawl.
This is the edging pattern, my very first attempt at doing an edging on a shawl. Andrea has been great through this whole process. She has taken the time to hold my hand and help me through the process, because of this I now feel I can tackle any shawl with a border.

Two days ago the corner pattern was released. I am so very glad I decided to put in a life line before attempting the mitered corner! Oh man! Let me tell you, first Molly kept putting her ball under the couch and whining at me to get it, then my husband, kept popping up to discuss political commentary from the morning newspaper, then my youngest son was asking advice and seeking praise for his art class homework, whew! I look down and realize I have twisted stitches and attempt to knit back only to realize I am totally lost and I was half way done! Without hesitation what flew out of my mouth !*&%#$ @#$& #$%^* could have made a truck drive blush! Shame on me! So I ripped back to my life line, got up and took a soothing hot shower and started attempt number two. I am cruising along and I get to row 48 and do a double take and then go back to the charts, I scratch my head, hmmmm, I message Andrea, more contemplation and I do the unthinkable and alter a designers pattern and ask forgiveness. My yarn is heavier and variegated, so I knit back the last row and added a cable. I really like the result.

Now I am knitting up the long side, 315 picked up stitches, I am going to be here a while, maybe a couple of weeks, but I am determined to stay focused and finish this shawl. It will be the largest project of my (so far) short knitting career and I am feeling quite proud of myself. The next post regarding this will to show the beautiful blocking frame my husband is making for me, so I can block this monster without it becoming covered in dog hair.

Fingers Are Flying

I finished Pattern 11 of the Summer Sampler!

Here is a close up.
Andrea is back and will soon post Pattern 12, then it's onto the border. I have learned more about lace knitting then I could have ever dreamed I would. My confidence level is growing and I feel great about that. As much as I have loved knitting this shawl, it has been a long knit. I know, I know it teaches patience and focus, but gees, I am wiggling in my chair like a small child. The solution to that, I remind myself, I have a small break before the next pattern, which gives me time to work on another WIP.
Even with all this knitting going on, I am also knitting scarves with my mother. We have purchased each other kits and are now getting together once a week to work on them. The first is a kit call Boa Boa Scarf she brought back from La Lana Wools

Plying,plotting, dying & Knitting

Focus has been difficult lately, there are so many things I want to do all at once. I have fallen deeply for spinning! I plied my first batch of the Camel/Silk. It is very soft!

I have also been knitting like a fiend on my Summer Sampler. I recently finished Pattern 8 - Surf

And Pattern 9 - Fritillaria So far this is my favorite pattern, I enjoyed knitting it the most and it knit up fast (either that or I am getting faster!)

In between....I received Knit Purl's newsletter which always leads to checking out their website. I kept going back to this kit for Gisela by Coco Knits
It uses Habu Textiles Gima Cotton. Apparently they wind cones with enough on it for the whole sweater,so there are fewer tails to weave in. On a recent trip to Portland I stopped by ...The bummer was they were out of them, but the good news is I believe I came up with something better, thus the plotting began. Honestly when I looked at the smaller skeins of Gima Cotton I was not excited about it. I searched Knit Purl which stocks several Habu Textile yarns, and I spied a beautiful color of their Tsumugi Silk.
It was suggested I use another fine yarn with it to make it thick enough to get gauge, I went along and settled for a white non twist cotton by Habu. The ladies tried to be nice like they always are and say it would look fine, but already the ideas were spinning in my head......When I arrived home I knit a swatch. My lovely husband said it looked nice, but I stuck my tongue out at it.
After taking a small piece and attempting to dye it with coffee and finding it resisted. I was off to buy some dye and I settled on a bronze dye, knowing I would get a variegated yarn, but also knowing that the olive hue would tone down the yellow in the silk....or so I hoped. Here is the yarn in the dye.
here it is dried and wound on a cone
And the new swatch, Woo! Hoo! everything I hoped for!!!

I'm Spinning!

Recently I took a beginner top whorl drop spindle class at Article Pract taught by Kristine Vejar. Thank you Kristine! I had sooo much fun! I learned a great deal and Kristine is a great teacher. Here's a couple of pictures of my first attempts at spinning. I bit uneven and novelty yarn at best, LOL.

After the class I purchased some of Kristine's roving. The blend is camel and silk that is naturally dyed called Succulent. I think the name fits perfect! I am in love with it.

This is it spun.
I am working on a second batch so I can ply it. I am excited to see the finished yarn. I do believe I am hooked!

Been a while

I know it has been a while since I blogged. This spring and summer I have spent more time outside doing things like watching morning cloak catepillars do a walk about in my yard and...
Then watching for weeks until this happened...

Then there was 8th grade graduation......

and birthdays and a family reunion..........

My great uncle Hap with my nieces. He served in the Merchant Marines, was in WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. While in the Merchant Marines(if I have this straight) his ship was distroyed and he survived a week in the ocean in a life raft. My grandfather was the oldest of 10 children and now 4 are left...

Then there was the visit to the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco.

There were Begonias with flowers from 4'' across to the size of a small dinner plate. I want mine to be that big!

And of course butterflies!

Last but not least I have been knitting. I am making the Summer Sampler by BadCat Designs and I think it is most appropriate to show the Grand Spider Pattern. If you want to see my progress I have posted it on Raverly my ID is Dragonflybabe.I will try to be better about blogging, it is just so hard to get my head out of the clouds when it is summertime.

Shoulder Wrap Pattern

Shoulder Wrap

I would like to state that this pattern is to serve as a guide for your individual creativity. I would hope you will experiment with color combinations, width and length of the wrap and the ruffle to create your own object of art. I combined the first three yarns because I liked the way magic ball added interest. The classic elite added density and bring together the colors of the main piece with the ruffle. The Big Bunz added luscious softness and warmth. These three yarns together made the wrap light and thick at the same time. The bamboo was used for its drape, softness and shimmer.

Yarns-
Big Bunz Angora- ArtFibers 250 yard ball Color 02 7 stitches an inch on size 5
Be Sweet Magic Ball Mohair-African Veldt 120 yards/50g 3 stitches on size 11
Classic Elite Mohair- 6572 underappriciated green –need 120 yards
Be Sweet Bamboo Color 664, 110 yards/50g 5 stitches an inch on size 6

Needles-
Size 19 Straights
Size 9 40” Circular
Size H Crochet hook
Finished wrap measures 45”x7 ½”

With Angora, Magic Ball & Classic Elite all together CO 15 stitches, using long tail CO.

Knit approx. 110 rows, BO, weave in tails.

Using Be Sweet Bamboo and crochet hook chain along one long edge. Due to size of loops on main piece, insert hook into edge, YO pull yarn through loop on hook and create a chain. There will be approx 3-5 chains in each edge loop of main piece. Approx 158 chains. Transfer last loop on the crochet hook to the size 9 knitting needle. Now pick up all stitches ending with 159 stitches on your needles.

Row 1- Knit all stitches.
Row 2- Purl all stitches.
Row 3- K3 *YO, K9*, repeat 17x’s till 3 stitches remain, K3.
Row 4- P3 * P1 & K1 in YO, P9* Repeat 17x’s, P3.
Row 5- K5 *YO, K11* Repeat till 3 Stitches remain K3.
Row 6- P3 *P1 & K1 in YO, P11* Repeat till 5 stitches remain P5.
Row 7- K7 *YO, K13* Repeat till 3 Stitches remain K3.
Row 8- P3 *P1 & K1 in YO, P13 * Repeat till 7 stitches remain P7
Row 9- K9 *YO, K15* repeat till 3 stitches remain K3.
Row 10-P3 *P1&K1 in YO, P15* repeat till 9 stitches remain P9
Row 11- K11 *YO, K17* repeat till 3 stitches remain, K3.
Row 12-P3 *P1 & K1 in YO, P17* repeat till 11 stitches remain, P11
Row 13- K13, *YO, K19* repeat till 3 stitches remain, K3.
Row 14-P3, *P1 & K1 in YO, P19* repeat till 13 stitches remain P13.
Row 15- (RS) Purl all stitches.
On WS BO in knit. This will prevent the edge from curling.

Use a clasp of choice- I used a metal and bone clasp, with a small double layer of cream colored felt between the two layers for support.
Adorn with buttons, charms or beads. I used a black chain cut into short lengths. I then wire wrapped a pearl on one end of the chain and a crystal on the other end. Then I slid the chain onto an eye pin that I thread through the button back and wrapped to secure it. I then used the wire loop and matching embroidery floss to sew them on .

Copyright 2008 WBKDesigns All rights reserved.

Road Trip to Portland

Molly and me, we went on a road trip recently with our man. He needed to go to Oregon for business, the Mini needed a service and well I can never miss an opportunity to see my father and his lovely wife, besides it was days before Mother's Day. So we headed north....First stop to see a job which used tropical hardwood that came from a managed forest.....

Let me back up a minute and say before we arrived to see this job we stayed at a dog friendly place called The Windmill Inn of Roseburg (our half way mark) .

Once we reached Portland it was time for Molly to stretch her legs......so up the hill and to one of the most beautiful parks we went....

I love the ferns growing on the trees! Everything is covered in moss.

Molly had lots of fun sniffing and exploring.......

Then off to check in to our Hotel. The Hotel Monaco is also dog friendly and in downtown Portland, I need to add only 5 very walkable blocks from Knit Purl . Knit Purl is a must stop everytime we go to Portland! They have yummy yarn, a wonderful and friendly staff and a knit night on Thursday night, they welcome out of towners to come knit with them. They also have some wonderful workshops.

So as a final here is a pic of Molly enjoying the Monaco....tee hee.