Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving ...

New flowers in the windowbox ...









Why I don't use my good lace tablecloths on Thanksgiving ...

Gorgeous tulips! Californians put tulips and tangerines on the table in November ...

A favorite doily on a side table ...












Thanksgiving tradition: a handpainted folk art turkey made of reeds. I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the last 18 years for my family, and this turkey has been on the table every year. (A new fixture: Mr. Monk reminds me of my knitting OCD every day ... )












We found this tiny dish among my mother-in-law's china. I didn't quite get it with my limited Italian. The translation: "far from the eyes, far from the heart" -- an Italian version of "out of sight, out of mind." I wish I knew the story behind this little dish. I'll make one up and tell you later.

Like mother, like daughter

My family is big and prolific. My grandparents' progeny and future descendants alone could populate a small town. Nana was one of seven brothers and sisters, and Tata was one of fifteen. That's just one branch of the family. From all of those great aunts and uncles, cousins galore have been born, been fruitful and multiplied, filling many houses in the Bay Area and beyond.

About 20-something years ago, I knit a sweater in lavender and pink for my cousin Janet's new baby Alexis. The pattern was from a Bernat baby book, and the yarn was a machine-wash acrylic, easy for a new mom to wash and fold with the rest of the baby's laundry.

Alexis is all grown up now. When she announced she was pregnant more than a year ago, I knew a baby shower would be coming up fast. I wanted to make something for the baby that Alexis (and her mom) would like, would be fun to make, and easy to care for.

I rummaged through my patterns and found ... the old Bernat baby book. I looked through it and considered making a lacy cardigan, or maybe some coveralls. But then, I looked at the striped sweater pattern I had made for Alexis more than 20 years ago and thought, why not! I found the same colors of yarn and made a duplicate of the lavender and pink sweater and a matching hat.

Aidan Evelyn has big, beautiful, twinkling eyes and a smile to melt the polar icecap. She's turning one next month. These are photos of Aidan in her lavender and pink sweater, just like mommy wore when she was a baby.

Motoring to the Fair

Yesterday, we planned to visit the San Mateo County Fair. Our idea was to check out the Home Arts exhibit area where my Paisley Long Shawl was entered for judging and then go to the evening concert featuring KC and Sunshine Band and the Village People.

The best laid plans of mice and and men often go awry.

A week ago, I ordered a new car from a Mini dealership. Since that time, we've been hunting around the Internet for information on our new baby, soon to be built at the factory in England. We found a local group that meets once a month for a "Mini run" to various locations in California. On Saturday, they met at Tesla Motors in Menlo Park for a run to Half Moon Bay.

Tesla is the electric car that is making headlines throughout the motoring world. It can do 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds, gets 220 mpc (miles per charge), and redlines at 13,000 rpms. (If you think knitters have a lot of abbreviations, just try to understand a few motoring enthusiasts chatting in acronyms.) The Tesla is a beautiful vehicle with a beautiful pricetag: $109,000.

The Minis were lined up outside the Tesla dealership, and we spoke to a few owners to gauge their satisfaction and to learn more about our Mini-to-be. Then, for a lark, we took off on a wild ride to the coast, following along behind a colorful caravan of Mini Coopers.

Instead of taking Highway 92, as we thought they might, they drove over Alpine Road, a winding, narrow, wooded byroad several miles south of 92. Let me tell you, these Mini drivers are escape artists who love fast cornering and zipping over hill and dale with aplomb. We kept pace in our Toyota, but it wasn't easy.

Hairpin turns through densely wooded glens with glimpses of impressive dropoffs -- what a trip! We took a sharp turn onto Pescadero Creek Road, another narrow, twisting path through Loma Mar and Pescadero. Nearing Pescadero, the cooler air signaled the proximity of the ocean, our homeland.

Our route through the trees ended at Pescadero State Beach. We turned right and headed north toward Half Moon Bay.

Not surprisingly, we were a bit tired from our Mini adventure, and we almost nixed the Fair in favor of the Olympics. We watched them a bit, but decided to take a short nap and head to the Fair later on in the evening.

We didn't perk up again until around 7:00 pm. We knew we might miss the beginning of KC or the Village People, but went anyway, speeding south on Highway 280, remarking about how fast those Minis scooted around tight corners.

We got to the Fair and were told that the concert was sold out. What?! No KC? No Sunshine Band? No Village People? The dream of reliving my disco youth, shattered?

I was disappointed, but not for long. We headed toward the Home Arts area to view the textiles and needlearts.

The Home Arts displays were in a big tent, rather than one of the buildings at the Fairgrounds as they were last year. The tent was the same one where I had dropped off my entry a couple of weeks earlier.

Although there was more room than last year, the lighting was rather poor. Still, the works displayed were lovely. I snapped several photos of items made by people I knew from the knitting groups.

And I found my Paisley Long Shawl displayed on a table with a Best of Show rosette!

I spoke a few minutes to Julia Curry, the Home Arts Department Coordinator, and she gave some insight into how the items were judged.

Julie is a quilter. None of her work could be entered under her name, but she had worked on at least 30 quilts in the exhibition. She said that some of the amateurs sent their hand-pieced quilts to her for finishing work.

As for the Paisley Long Shawl, she mentioned that the knitting judges remarked about the difficulty of knitting with linen and how my stitches were consistent and even. Cool!

I asked if she had a few pins to tack the shawl down to the tablecloth. Although chains were around the table, my shawl was just lying on top of a tablecloth. I liked that they chose to display it on a light background, but anyone could pick it up. She was very helpful and said that she appreciated hearing feedback about the displays and how they could be improved.

I walked around looking for some of the items that were entered by people I knew. Some won ribbons and all were beautiful.

Nancy's weaving won a 1st place blue ribbon. Gorgeous colors and inspiring!












Jane had several entries. This rose bag is luscious.












Jeannette's miniature sweaters are just perfect displayed on fingertips.












Patt's color choices are always stunning. This woven scarf is a miracle of color and texture.












Julie's blue scarf won a 3rd place ribbon! Congrats!












Jane's wool dickie won a 1st place ribbon! Way to go!












I'm embarassed to say I don't know whose hat this is, but it is a lovely one.












Another creation from Jane - a darling green child's pullover.












And Jane's afghan won a 1st place blue ribbon! Great color choices and the textures are wonderful!












Matthew's mermaid is a one-of-a-kind whimsical treat to behold.












And I had to photograph this leather tooled saddle that won Best of Show. Isn't it amazing?

Paisley Long Shawl Completed!

This is the completed Paisley Long Shawl I knit in Euroflax 100% linen. I finished it shortly before I went on vacation, but just haven't had time to post photos.

The 1/2 lb cone of Euroflax Paris held 1,300 yards. I came perilously close to running out. I even had to unravel about half of my swatch! The pattern said that 1,260 yards would be enough if I omitted the fringe. Of course, this estimate was based on using Jaggerspun Zephyr, the recommended wool/silk blend.


Since I used linen, and my gauge was slightly different, my yardage required was different. Also, I chose to knit an additional repeat of the center boteh pattern to compensate for the smaller gauge.

I used a US4 needle, and my finished size is about 28" x 80" -- whereas the pattern's finished size, not including the extra repeat or optional fringe, was 29" x 77". I think I made the right choice in adding a boteh repeat. If I didn't, the length would have been around 74".

This is true knitted lace, with lace patterning on both sides. There are no "rest" rows (plain rows). For me, the pattern was exciting and fun to knit. I enjoyed seeing the lovely lacy flowers emerge in the shawl, and reading the large, clear charts row by row was a pleasure.

The pattern is a garter lace, so there is no wrong or right side. For this reason, I made sure to use a different colored marker at the beginning of the odd rows, to keep my eyes reading the chart in the right direction. When I saw the colored marker, I knew I had to read the chart from right to left (odd row). When I didn't see the colored marker, I knew I had to read the chart from left to right (even row).

Chart reading for knitted lace is a necessary skill. The charts help you to visualize where the holes should appear on every row. If something isn't lining up, you can frog back (God forbid) and fix it by looking at the chart. To do this with just written instructions can be nightmarish.

I used lifelines about once every other repeat. A lifeline is a contrasting thread sewn into one row by threading it through all the stitches on the needle (not the stitch markers). If I needed to rip back, I could go back to the lifeline and not lose any stitches.


The shawl starts with a provisional cast on in the center. Then I knit all the way to one end and bound off. After that, I picked up stitches from the provisional cast on and knit all the way to the other end.

The border is part of the main pattern, so I didn't have to add one at the end. Shetland lace and many other lace patterns require a knitted-on or sewn-on border, so this border was considerably faster. However, the border pattern does take much concentration, even more than the center pattern. The yarnovers are many!

Dorothy Siemens, the designer, writes her patterns impeccably well, and the charts are large and clear. There are four pages of instructions, four legal-sized chart pages, and two pages of photographs. She gives tips on gauge, sizing, marker placement, joining new balls of yarn, lifelines, fringe and blocking.







This shawl will be my lace entry this year at the San Mateo County Fair. Wish me luck!

Yubina!

I had read about Yubina on Fleegle's blog. This Mongolian cashmere can be ordered only online. If I hadn't heard of the positive experiences of others, I probably would not have ordered, because there is no address or direct contact information on the website, except for an email address.

But on the plus side, the website offers a variety of weights, colors and blends. So far, the reviews of other bloggers have been great.

I was at work on Wednesday when my hubby called and told me a curious little package had arrived with Chinese stamps on it. He said it looked too small and felt a little too heavy to be yarn. Hmmm ... if they had shipped me a box of rocks, I would be mad, to say the least!

When I got home from work that day, I barely had enough time to scoop up the box and my knitting bag to hurry over to my knitting pal Nina's house for knit night. When she opened the door, I held up the unopened box reverently, and she instantly knew what I had brought for show-and-tell.

I had ordered the yarn on May 26. On May 30, I received an email from Jeremy at Yubina that the yarn had shipped. The package arrived on June 11. That's 16 days -- not bad for going halfway around the world and through customs.

Nina handed me a box knife and I carefully cut open the package. The tension was palpable. Would it be a box of joy or disappointment?

Gasps all around -- joy!

The purple is 50 grams, 500 yds per ball, 100% cashmere. The color is heathery; it looks like dark and light purple mixed together. You can't really tell how heathery from the photos on the Yubina website. It's super soft and squishy, and would make a lovely shawl.

The blue is 45% cashmere and 50% silk. The other 5% I'm assuming is some sort of synthetic binder, but the website does not state. The yarn comes without labels or care instructions directly from the manufacturer.

In some cases, they have stopped shipping 50 gram balls, and instead are shipping the 125 gram cones. I had ordered 100 grams (two balls) of the blue, but got a cone instead -- so I got a little extra for no charge.

On closer inspection, I found that the blue is a three-ply yarn. Two of the plies are a soft baby blue, and one ply is a similar but slightly brighter blue (probably the silk ply). The combination has depth, and I'm extremely pleased with this choice. In fact, I swatched this weekend for the Princess Shawl from Heirloom Knitting. This yarn is definitely a possibility. I like the tight twist and the smoothness. I don't think I want anything too fuzzy or springy for Princess. The silk adds a nice shine and drape. I love this stuff!

One thing I know for sure: I will not use my Inox greys with this yarn. I tried swatching with a 2mm (US 0) needle, and the Inox tips were definitely not sharp enough. The Addi Lace or Hiya Hiya needles are good choices. I have some of each brand, but the Inox was the first one I grabbed.

I knit a swatch from one of the Princess charts, 20 sts by 30 rows. I washed it under cool water in the sink, squeezed it in a towel and pinned it out to dry. As I was pinning, I started thinking about blocking the grand Princess Shawl when it's completed.

First of all, look how many pins! This is just a swatch! I'm going to need a zillion pins when I block the shawl. Of course, I have about a year or so before I have to do that.
I'm going to get some gardening knee pads for that job.

I do have blocking wires (actually welding rods) and a big rolled up piece of berber carpet in the garage that I use just for blocking large pieces of lace, but the Princess may be bigger than that.

Yikes.

Paisley Progress and a Cone Spinner

I've made some progress on the Paisley Long Shawl. The shawl is knitted from the center provisional cast on toward each end, beginning with the small botehs (flowers), followed by small paisleys, then large paisleys, then hexagons. The paisleys in the photo look upside-down because the provisional cast on is at the bottom. The work is hanging from my circular needle as I progress toward the end of the first half of the shawl.

When I get to the end of the first half, I will pick up stitches from my provisional cast on, and work the second half of the shawl, from the center toward the other end.

The edging on either side is knitted as you progress down the long rectangle. I've put some noticeable stitch markers in between the edging and the main body on either side to alert me.

This design is a pleasure to knit. I can't say enough good things about Fiddlesticks patterns. They are clear and well-written. The pattern changes from row to row, so it never gets tedious for me. I would recommend this pattern to experienced lace knitters. It is true knitted lace (lace patterning on both sides).

As I began to knit this shawl with my Euroflax linen, I struggled a little bit with pulling the yarn from the cone. It wasn't a huge problem, but it didn't flow as smoothly as I would have liked. I started thinking about making a cone spinner. I've knit from cones before, and I knew it was something I would use again and again.

At first, I considered size and portability. I wanted this light enough to bring to my knitting group and small enough to fit into my knitting bag, yet it had to be stable so that yanking on the yarn wouldn't knock it off the table.

The spinner mechanism is simply a small lazy susan about 3" across, purchased from the local hardware store. The wood pieces are two cedar fence post caps that we happened to have in the garage. They are about 4.25" across with beveled edges.

The dowel is another scrap from the garage, about one inch in diameter and five inches long. The pieces were sanded and stained with some leftover redwood stain.

Hubby drilled pilot holes in the center of the dowel and the center of one fence post cap. He screwed the cap to the dowel, countersinking the screw and adding a drop of wood glue between the cap and dowel.

With all the pieces in order, I tested the spinner with my Euroflax cone, and it seemed to work very well. It spun freely and didn't tip over. I tried it with a larger cone, and it still seemed stable and spun freely. More on this when I have more experience using it.

Lace and Linen

After I made an entire lace sweater in linen, I learned to appreciate the fine attributes of linen. I had been warned over and over that linen is hard on the hands. It has no "give" and is rough on your fingers.

What I found was that my personal style of knitting loosely is right for linen.

Usually, when I swatch for a big lace project (and yes, I always swatch), I find that I have to drop down at least one needle size to get the right gauge.

With linen, knitting loosely has its benefits and drawbacks.

The looseness of the loops on the needles makes them slide easily, and I can maneuver my stitches without much difficulty. However, linen's stiffness carries a sinister warning: pay attention or your needles will slide right out of the stitches!

I invariably use some type of metal needles (Addi lace, Addi turbo or Inox grey) for lace. I love the speed, and I feel quite like a knitting "athlete" when I use them. But like all athletes, I must exert care to avoid a slip-up and downtime.

Linen is super-stiff when you knit it, but you can wash it beforehand if you like. Euroflax is advertised as machine washable and dryable. You can even beat it, wring and squish it into submission. When it dries you will have a much softer, drapier yarn. I actually like knitting with new unwashed linen, so I don't wash it until the blocking stage.

I finally started the Paisley Long Shawl from Fiddlesticks. The photo of the finished shawl is from Fiddlesticks. I hope mine will look as lovely!

YARN: After months of saying, "This is my next big lace project," I leapt into the project using size 3 Addi lace needles and a cone of navy blue Euroflax linen that I've had on hand for months. Louet formerly called this yarn "Paris" and now calls it simply "laceweight" or 14/2 -- 6 stitches per inch and 1300 yards on my half pound cone.

PATTERN: Fiddlesticks' owner Dorothy Siemens writes impeccably and her patterns are a joy to use. The charts are large and easy to read. The instructions are clear and make sense. She is also accessible via email, phone or her Yahoo group.

From the pattern, "Paisley Long Shawl":

The Paisley Long Shawl was inspired by the designs of the beautiful woven paisley shawls of the 19th century. It is an interpretation in lace of a long shawl dating from about 1820, and features original lace motifs of botehs (the small motifs filling the middle ground of the shawl) and larger paisley patterns.

Another Fiddlesticks pattern I knit a few years ago was the Peacock Feathers Shawl. This is probably one of Dorothy's most popular patterns. I love the way the feathers grow from the small ones at the neck to the largest size at the edge.

Spring Blossoms: Border with Double and Triple Joins

This is the border I decided to add to the Spring Blossoms Shawl. The pattern is from Fiber Trends, and Eugen Beugler is the designer. The yarn was dyed specially for me by Margaret at Inspirations Yarn, and it's her Espresso laceweight merino. I'm using a size 4 needle.

The pattern recommends a simple crochet edging. I decided to try a knitted border I particularly like from Victorian Lace Today. It's the diamonds and triangles edging on page 150. The border is particularly wide, so it's going to take some time to complete.

So far, I'm completely happy with it. The diamond shapes echo the diamonds in the flower bouquets of the main panel. The lacy zigzag edge is light and gives the shawl a nice drape.

I have to be careful when I get to the corners. In order to get a wide lace border to turn a corner, you have to plan the number of double and triple joins before and after the corner. For this extra wide border (32 sts wide), Jane Sowerby recommends 8 double and 4 to 8 triple joins.

Jane describes Single, Double and Triple joins in her book Victorian Lace Today. To summarize:

Single Join -- Knit one border stitch (WS) to one stitch of center panel by slipping the last border stitch through the back loop together with one main panel stitch and knitting them together.

Double Join -- Two single joins to one center panel stitch. A total of four border rows are attached to one center panel stitch, since you only "join" on the WS rows.

Triple Join -- Three single joins to one center panel stitch. A total of six border rows are attached to one center panel stitch, since you only "join" on the WS rows.

It takes some thought to decide when to start the double and triple joins. For this border, I'm starting the doubles about 24 rows from the corner, putting in the triples at the point of the corner, and finishing up 24 rows after the point on the next contiguous side.

The border is knit onto the center panel perpendicularly, with the live stitches of the center panel still on the circular needle. I put a rubber point protector on one circular needle tip and knit the panel stitches off of the other end of the needle.

I prefer to use a DPN to knit the border. For me, it's faster to flip the work. I don't ever leave a border row on the DPN when I put the work down. I make sure that I end on a RS row so that all the stitches are being held on the circular when I put the knitting back into my bag.

I included a lifeline on the last row of the main center panel before I started the border. I think this is important if you are not sure you are going to like the border you picked. Then, if you have to rip out the border and start again, you can just pick up the stitches held by the lifeline.