5 down... 2 to go...

That is how many shawls I have not only given as presents in 2009 for special friends with special birthdays but how many times I have spun laceweight and then knitted it up.... and enjoyed every minute of it from drafting and dizing the fibre to spinning, to choosing the pattern and to finally see the recipients face when they open the shawl.....

The final gift of 2009 ws to Christine (a friend / customer) who was 70 on the 11th December. I chose the 'Leaf & Nupp' shawl from Estonian Lace as it just seemed apt for the 'Fern' batts from Enchanted Knoll I spun up.....

Finished Size 18 x 63” blocked

I omitted the nupps to reduce yarn usage and worked 18 repeats of the main pattern. I also omitted the border and opted to just to do an edging at the CO & CO edges.

To work the edges I used the Leaf & nupp Lace Edge in the book, unzipped the cast on stitches and worked the pattern as stated EXCEPT knitting/purling as appropriate one extra stitch at each end of the row to use the 2 extra stitches. I also worked a row 10 as a plain purl row to secure yo’s from row 9 before doing the K2tog cast off.

After completing the 2nd Leaf & Nupp border (cast off edge), I worked the Leaf & Nupp Lace Edge as before.

This may sound a little 'vague' but when I check my ravelry projects I actually completed this shawl back in May!!! yes I worked all the shawls out of sequence just to add something to the mix and make life interesting or difficult... no really just to break all the 'green' spinning and knitting up.....

Next on the needles after Christmas is this - 'Chai' from Enchanted Knoll and this will become a Swallowtail for those who are counting this will be my 6th! a pattern I never tire off and IMHO is a classic... This will be ready for on or about the 24th January when my mum turns 80....

and for the fibre addicts among you this is how it stated out in life...... I can't speak highly enough of EK's batts....

I will just take this opportunity to wish everyone a festive Christmas and Happy New Year...

Yes I'm a Bad Blogger....

OK, I'm a bad blogger I know... but look at it this way I've some nice photos to show you of a couple of shawls which were spun and knit for two dear friends for their 40th and 60th birthdays at the beginning of November.... which I hasten to add was part of the reason for no posts as I couldn't post as they read my blog... yes Fleegle when I get round to writing it!!!

Anyway spun from 'Black Magic Woman' Batts from Enchanted Knoll - Baltic Blossoms by Evelyn Clark for Anita who was 40 on the 8th November....

Plenty of gratuitous close ups for those who like to study detail.... and I actually do like the close ups of these as I've managed to capture all the little glints for all the different colours of the sari silk and Angelina Josette puts into these batts :o)

I worked it as for the larger size, but worked 1 extra repeat (14 total) of the petal lace, followed by chart 3, 1 extra time to make the st count correct to begin chart 4A (petal lace could also have been worked 15 times before chart 3 to give correct st count for chart 4A). I also omitted the ‘centre’ stitches from the final edging chart.

It used about 618m of yarn in the end ......

Blocked Size: 86” x 34” at spine

For Anita's Mum, Kath who was 60 on the 1st of November - Aeolian by Elizabeth Freeman

This was knit from handspun yarn, spun from Batts made by Natalie of The Yarn Yard, unfortunately the photos don't do the subtle shading of all the shades of green she dyed and then blended to make these batts....

The Shawl used 94.6g of yarn and came out at:
Blocked Size: 80” across top x 39” at spine

I didn't decide to add beads as I was running short on time to knit this up but worked the 9 stitch Nupp throughout the body of the shawl until the Edge Chart.

I worked the 12 repeats of the Yucca Lace then the Transition Chart Agave Chart, Final Agave Chart and 1 Edge Chart were I changed to 7st Nupps. I cast off using the standard cast off you find on a lot of lace shawls to add 'give' to the edge, but I used the yarn doubled to allow for more 'give'.

Now I have another shawl to show you but the recipient won't get that until tomorrow when she is 70! but I promise I will try to post next week....

Other than that I have been busy crocheting and sock knitting with the odd hat thrown in for Christmas presents. I'm also part way through spinning more Enchanted Knoll Batts - 'Chai' for my next lace shawl which I think will be Swallowtail (for the 6th time) due for mum's 80th on the 24th January..... then one more for 6 weeks after that for another 80th and then my run of lace spinning & knitting has ended and I will have spun & knit 7 lace shawls in 12 months!!!

Homage to EZ???

Promise you this is the last post for catching up on what has been completed while I wasn't blogging. My next post should have some 'action' shots for want of a better description of knitting, crocheting or spinning in progress rather than 'here's one I did earlier' in true Blue Peter style...

Anyway cast your minds back you may remember seeing a photo of this jumper I worked and completed as a prototype (you know smaller jumper, less sts, just in case EZ hadn't got it right and it was all a disaster) for one for our friend Mike who had requested a jumper for a Christmas present in the September of 2008. As the jumper he picked from my pattern books was in a lovey Patons yarn 'Jet' which is Wool & Alpaca and unfortunately hand wash only this was no good, so rather than try and use the pattern and do a bigger size with DK yarn, I decided it was time I put my Elizabeth Zimmermann (EZ) books to good use....

Well after a lot of stop, starting which means every time I got near a bit that was not straight forward or bit I thought was not going to work out right as EZ said it would, the above jumper was completed and as usual EZ was correct, I was having visions that the raglan decreases were not enough and all you would see was the top of the head above the neckline!!!

This then gave me the confidence that maybe just maybe I could actually do this jumper for Mike, so earlier this month I finally completed his 2008 Christmas present... I have to say I am very, very OK very pleased with this and can't wait for some colder weather when it will be getting put into regular service :o))

The basic outline of working the raglan came from EZ's 'Knitting Workshop', I think this is my favourite of her 4 books... the idea for the green contrasting bottom hem (which you can't see here) was from Brooklyntweed's Seamless Hybrid. The sleeves (3x3 rib) and the collar (1x1 rib) along with contrasting facings were what attracted Mike to the original pattern - Patons Jet 1266 (see bottom left thumbnail). I have to say I think I've done pretty well mimicking this hand wash only wool/alpaca blend in a machine washable, tumble dry able Patons Diploma Gold DK yarn, don't you?

Other EZ projects have been done as well... My friend Janet was expecting their 2nd child on 24th July, Anna Laura weighed in 11 days late on the 4th August at 7lb 11oz and was met with these...

EZ's surplice jacket worked in Patons new Eco Cotton (Lime & Primrose) this carries a similar tension to Rowans Cotton Glace...

and what must be considered EZ's most worked pattern looking at the number of projects on Ravelry, her Baby Surprise Jacket or BSJ as it's more commonly known....

I joined the July KAL on the BSJ Forum on Ravelry to do this using Dale of Norway's 'Baby Ull' on 3.5mm needles and I really enjoyed this, I must have done as I offered Janet another one if she wanted in a few months in a bigger size....

As you can see even though this is my 1st one I did a few modifications such as adding the collar, lengthening the sleeves and finishing with an i-cord buttonhole....

Think that's it for now, will be back soon with more current works....

Besides Lace....

Besides lace while I've not been blogging there's been quite a lot of crocheting, mainly inspired by the Japanese crochet books that are out there, peoples Ravelry projects and Lucy aka Attic24

I've been fiddling on and off for years with crochet but counting was always the problem... anything other than a sample of a stitch would see me get to the end of a row with either too many or not enough chains left to work into!

Anyway I seem to be getting somewhere and enjoying it especially the motif style crochet as it doesn't require you to commit to too much time in one sitting and I have to admit was a godsend earlier this year when things were up in the air... Anyway as there's quite a few photos to show you I'm not going to waffle, if you want to ask questions you can always leave me a message and I'll reply or you can contact me on Ravelry, I'm what else but 'littleberry' on there :o)

There was Kaban from Rowan 35 worked not in Rowans Summer Tweed but Patons Vintage which gave it a firmer and IMHO more useful fabric for a bag...

Followed by Ingas Haekelbeutel worked in Anchor Magicline, this colourway is discontinued but manage to score this yarn on Ebay as I'd previously seen a bag done in this colourway and just thought it was stunning...




Next came Meadow Scarf by Robyn Chachula from the premiere issue of the UK magazine Inside Crochet which I worked in Patons Serenity as I already had an odd ball of green & red, so just added the yellow...

I also completed Sambuca by Doris Chan in Rowans Pure Wool DK in 'Spice (034) This was my 1st attempt at 'lacy crochet' and can honestly say it was a pleasurable experience ....

I then got hooked on Hexagons, easier than circles and more interesting than squares and also the join as you go method illustrated by Moonstitches ! If I hadn't have discovered hexagons and this method to join I doubt I would have contemplated starting this let alone complete it... My Hexagon Throw based on the Hexagon-how-to by Attic24

I used 13 colours all of one of which were Patons 100% Cotton DK at £3.95 per 100g (210m) for mercerized cotton is ridiculously cheap and IMHO is the best cotton of its type out there on the market, the other colour used was Rowans Cotton Glace in 'Shoot' and at £3.95 for 50g (115m) you can perhaps understand why I think the Patons is a cheap cotton... Patons IMHO is a very undervalued brand in this country and they really produce superb yarns for a good price...

Last by no means least completed only last week my Kaleidoscope Cushion based on the free hexagon motif Kaleidoscope by Lisa Donald which can also be found in the book Blue Ribbon Afghans from Americas State Fairs

Worked in a mixture of Patons 100% Cotton 4ply again £3.95 for 100g (330m) and Rowan's now discontinued 4ply cotton


Front

If anyone wants more details or to ask questions either leave me a message or contact me on Ravelry.

Its been too long...

since my last post but life has been not chaotic but steadily busy here at the littleberry residence.

Not only has my husband and his partner started their new business in IT Consultancy (OK they're software engineers) and all the associated paperwork that has been coming my way for that, as well as running my own business, I've had my husband's business partner's (and friend) daughter not only for 2 weeks work experience but living with us as well... so somewhere in all that went the first few week of July... and my enthusiasm for keeping my blog updated!

Anyway as promised several posts ago the last of my lace projects that were knitted in my absence of blogging...

Peacock Tail & Leaf Scarf from the Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush as I'm sure most people are aware... It was knit for Renate who was 60 along with her twin sister at the end of June (see previous post). I used my own handpsun, BFL Superwash which I actually dyed myself and hand carded (never again!) with Trilobal Nylon in Silver just to make it twinkle....

and a close up with a more accurate representation of the colour...

That's all the lace projects that are complete at the moment, there will be more lace started soon, but just at the moment I've heading towards the finish line with Mike's Ribbed sleeve Raglan jumper (based on EZ's % system) that was his Christmas present for Christmas 2008!!!


I've just joined the sleeves to the body and done about 1" of knitting so am just about to embark on the Raglan decreasing.....



Here's what it will look like when completed

apart from the knitting I've been doing quite a bit of crocheting, I've found that while everything has been in the air I could concentrate on crochet motifs, so more on that in my next post...

Happy 60th Birthday

Remember the shawls I've shown you (you actually haven't seen Renate's yet) well here is the reason, well partly....

These two ladies start the season of decade birthdays. This is Monica and Renate (either side of the counter, Monica on the right) who were 60 on 29th June and are two good customers of my shop and regulars to SnB, so how else would you treat twins on their birthday...


but with fruit cake, made and decorated by my mum; who very ingeniously arranged it so if I took the candles out, I could cut the cake in 3, we could all share in the centre portion but yet Monica and Renate could take home an 'individual' cake each.....


and flowers, I thought the florist had done a lovely job of making the flowers the same but different!

and finally the unwrapping of presents from various friends.....

Monica

Monica, Cathleen, Enid, Christine, Diane, Renate

Renate with her candy bracelet on!

The scene from behind the counter, I had lovely wafts of perfume all afternoon :o)

Monica and my mum (Cathleen)

Christine, Diane & Renate

Renate

They had a lovely time and were completely surprised and over whelmed by it all, they got shawls, socks, Etui boxes, stitch markers, and sweets that brought back memories of childhood; love hearts, sherbet fountain, Parma violets, candy bracelets

Happy 60th Birthday Monica & Renate

More from the Repetoire

As promised another update...

Finished mid May this was started back in February and I got halfway and just simply stopped, not just this but lots of other things too looking back now....

For those of you who don't know what the pattern is, it is the Leaf and Nupp Shawl from Estonian Knitted Lace by Nancy Bush.

and for those of you who like detailed close ups:

It has come out a respectable 18 x 63" when blocked and is destined for a 70th birthday present foe December.

I know I'm well in hand but the yarn said it wanted to be this shawl and as I'd spun it why not knit it! The fibre was from Enchanted Knoll (see my sidebar) and was the 'fern' batts which were lovely to spin. I used 3.75mm to knit the resulting 2ply yarn.

For the eagle eyed among you, you may notice that I have omitted the border all the way round and just used it on the top and bottom borders. I initially did this because I thought I wouldn't have enough yarn, but with hindsight I'd plenty, enough to work 4 extra repeats of the main motif, but I have to say I think I prefer it this way...

I have another shawl to show you in my next post that was completed a few weeks ago and other things too.... I think now things are a bit more settled in the household I'm having a 'finishing' off session which is making me feel good; projects that have been hanging around for too long are slowly getting finished :o)

I've also been working on my crochet in the last few months as well so there will be creeping in as well... but I will leave you with a link to a newly found blog which is very inspiring Attic24