Another shawl complete!

Timantti is done. I made quite a number of changes from the original. I did the plain parts in garter as I prefer garter stitch for hand-painted yarns. I am quite pleased with the result. I also added a second section of the hand-painted yarn below the lace. As a result, I've used up 2 50 gm balls of Irving Park and what was left of a ball of Violet in Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock.

I kept the lace in stockinette as I felt it would look better. I am pleased with the result.

I was concerned about the difference in gauge between the stockinette lace and the garter center. To adjust for it, I went up a couple of needle sizes. The result is a little waviness but it actually makes the shawl stay on better.

In retrospect, I should have gone up a needle size in the middle of the garter center and then another needle size at the stockinette. The final garter section is done on the same needle as the stockinette.

I am also happy with the size. I have decided that I'm not a small shawl person. I like larger shawls. So this is the size I like. It goes over the shoulders and keeps my neck clear. I hate stuff around my neck. I haven't found a good way to wear a small shawl without it being around my neck.

Now back to the Rose Lace Collar Bohus...

Shape of things to come

I have been remiss in posting about the gorgeous stuff I brought back from Camp in July. I can't believe it is the middle of Sept already and I still haven't written about it!

First of all, my prize. This was for the CATS! poster. A Camper had donated this and I was lucky to get it as a prize. It was perfect for a beginning spinner. The white fiber is Corriedale and the braid is alpaca. As you'll see, I came back with a lovely variety of fibers to sample. I am very excited about spinning this. Thanks Linda!

My purchases (and gifts) were few but wonderful from a spinning perspective. The top on the bottom is Polwarth, dyed by Chris of Briar Rose Fibers. She was extremely generous to all of the spinners in the room. Each of us got a gift of fiber and mine was a new-to-me breed!

The blue on top is a silk batt that I bought from Chris. It is the most luscious shade of blue tinged with lilac and even a little teal. I am going to save that for when I have more skill.

The bag contains kid mohair locks. It is the first shearing of the goat so it is soft and silky. The colors (which you can't see well due to the plastic) are mauve to gray. I have some mauve Falkland from a Verb for Keeping Warm, which I bought at Rhinebeck last year. I plan to make faux-rolags of the two and spin them together.

I spun a bit of the blue BFL I started the week before and also plied some yarns together. But more on that next week. Mostly I knit this week. I have made a lot of progress on the Timantti Shawl. I've made a couple of changes. I went up a couple of needle sizes for the lace and switched back to stockinette. This is one of the halves of the triangular shawl so far. I love the colors. The lace is a true violet although it looks blue in this photo.

And here's a close-up of the garter and the lace. I have another skein of the hand-paint, so I may go back to garter after the violet is done. I'm not sure yet. I only have a little violet left and I think I want this to be a bigger shawl than it currently is. I may also do the lace pattern in the hand-paint. We'll see...

I am enjoying knitting and spinning these days. The slump is long over and I wish I could spend my days working with fiber in all its forms. Unfortunately, there is such a thing as a job that pays for all this so I can't.

Finished!

Breaking news! I just finished the iPad cozy. Here it is, with the iPad in it. I made a giant Elizabeth Zimmerman 1 row buttonhole on each side to create handles.

The gauge is tight but that created a dense fabric that has the body to support the iPad and also to provide some cushioning. I don't think it is suitable to carry the iPad around a lot but it is nice to carry around in another bag that doesn't have cushioning.

Knitting my handspun!

We've had a lot of rain these past few weeks in the Northeast of the USA. LOTS OF RAIN. The garden is very green, but it isn't good for the tomatoes. There are lots of green tomatoes but not very many ripe ones. Tomatoes need heat and sun to ripen. Let's hope for a bit more heat before the fall sets in. Time is now running out as our first frost date is in about a month.

However the rain brought out the wildlife. A doe and her baby were grazing on the weeds at the edge of our property. I happened to be working from home and was able to snap a couple pictures of the fawn. Great pictures of the rear end of the fawn!

Here's a little bit of the fawn's head. It is looking up at its mother. This was the last I saw of the fawn as it scampered off with its mother to graze somewhere else.

On to knitting. I haven't been spinning much. I got the idea to knit an iPad cozy from a post on a Ravelry forum. It seemed like a great way to use this skein which had some odd colors in it. Lots of a boring natural and then some nice colors. But the proportions of the colors were off for most applications. But it was perfect for the iPad cozy.

I didn't enjoy knitting the brown. It is a very rough fiber. Now I am on to what feels like merino. I am not sure how much yarn I have but it should cover the iPad. If I have more, I will make a couple of giant one row buttonhole handles. Otherwise, it will just be a slide-in cozy.

New beginnings and endings

I have been working on a cabled cushion cover for a class. It is a very simple pattern with 2x2 and 4x4 cables which give me the opportunity to explain a couple of different ways of cabling without a cable needle as well as teaching the use of one.

The yarn is leftover Cascade Ecological Wool from my CATS poster.

I'll post a picture of the other side later. It is a little different but not completed.

This is the Timantti that I started while I was traveling along with its contrast color. Pretty, isn't it?

I also started spinning this lovely blue BFL (to match my toenails?). I am spinning it from the fold. It is from Gale's Art and I bought it at the Sheep and Wool Festival last year. I love the color. It is a very grey day today and I think these colors are calling to me. That is why I am posting about them today!