Me>Entrelac

I have officially beaten my Entrelac problem and completed my Lady Eleanor Stole. I ended up using only 8 balls of Noro Silk Garden (which means I will have a few left over for my stash...). If someone were to ask, I would have to say that once you can sort of grasp the idea, the Scarf Style pattern is by far the best I have come across. It can be a little annoying trying to distinguish between tier 1 and tier 2 once it becomes mindless but I had little to no problems. I thought the Noro was a great choice and as I expected once washed became terribly soft though I will suggest going down a needle size or two to compensate for the thin pieces throughout the yarn. The thicker parts filled in beautifully but some of the thinner yarn is noticeable to the trained eye. The only complaint I would really have to tell someone is that I HATE the way the end tier came out. I am sure there is a better set of instructions somewhere but the K2together, kx, ssk method seemed to leave very uneven edges on mine. It would be worth looking on Ravelry or another site for a better tutorial, I think. After blocking it grew about 1/4-1/3 the size in length so that is something to keep in mind as you begin losing your mind to boredom. I am still debating with myself about whether I will put the fringe on since I am generally not a fan of anything that can snag and destroy itself in an instant. (Bad memories, don't ask...)

(You can see more photos by clicking this link or using the Project Bar on the side of my page. )

In equally fab news, I recently received a gift card to my LYS . I went by this past week to see what I could find after thinking long and embarrassingly hard. I ended up coming across a hidden stash of Madelinetosh Pashmina that I had to scoop up- HAD, HAD, HAD to! The colorway is Thyme and it is gorgeous. Of course the selection was very limited but for a last-minute, didnt-think-you-had-this decision, I am insanely happy. I also picked up the last ball of Madelinetosh Vintage in the Dahlia colorway, which I only now realize will clash with my new, seriously-red hair. I will be working on figuring that one out, though I am leaning toward a hat, maybe another Spring Beret--I gifted my Blue Sky Cotton one to a dear friend in Texas some time ago. I will keep the updates coming, as I am planning on starting my Damson (by Ysolda Teague... who is quickly becoming one of my knitting crushes) with the Madtosh Thyme. I think the end result is going to be fantastic!

More very soon!

And please, please, please cast on your vote for my next project! (Yes, I did just make a knitting joke...)

New look, new ways.

I have been waiting to update this for many reasons. First, I wanted to gather my thoughts and express myself in the right way. Second, we were pounced with 18 inches of snow last week and instead of working my hands to bloody pulps, I rested them and worked on nothing... I know, crazy.

In the last few weeks my thoughts on knitting have really come to change. When I first started this blog, I wrote about how intensely amazing some of the knitting resources have become like Ravelry. Once I began using it regularly, I found that I couldn't stop! I wanted to look at every version of every project I was anticipating working on. I wanted to read reviews of books, looms, talk about yarn sales, listen to thoughts on pesky techniques. The list was honestly endless. One day around that time I logged on to notice that Remants, one of the main boards had been removed. I had previously taken the board off my list for viewing because Remants was about almost everything but knitting (though sometimes the two collided--as in a nasty post about a family member who had a "thing against" yarn and ripped up family heirlooms) and yet took up half the time I spent on the site. The board was used for "I currently hate my husband" (not from me, but others!), "I currently have cramps and feel like hell!", "I hate my boss!", "I have a bear in my front yard!" (yes, srsly.) things like that. It quickly became my version of Facebook. I mulled it over for a few days and decided to close my Ravelry account. At last glance I had many favorites (up to 50 on my Yellow Summer project!), many friends, many comments, and belonged to many groups. My thinking for closing my Ravelry account wasnt about saying the site doesn't have a tremendous part in helping knitters of all levels, it mainly has to do with my ever changing studying schedule, my incessant need to check my project page, and my nagging want to say something. ("I would have killed her!!!!" as in the case of the afghan shredder.) I just came to realize that at some point a site like that makes your knitting not be about you as much as about wanting to show it off, wondering what people think, and along with that comes a certain form of self esteem on wondering whether it looks perfect, whether you should have done something different, etc etc (And I say all of this as my experience, not anyone elses). I could really go on about how much fun and information I have gained from the site but I will spare the gory love fest and just say that I will tremendously miss losing time reading all the posts and looking at the projects but unfortunately, I feel like it is probably time for me to focus on other things. I remember a while back I was watching an episode of Letsknit2gether and Cat asked a certain designer about Rav... to which the designer replied that she/he had to stop because they just couldn't stop! I can't remember who it was, somewhere between Louisa Harding and Ysolda Teague but it is there somewhere. And it is a fair representation of how I feel.

Ok, now that I am off my soap box, I wanted to update on my finished Daybreak Shawl! I worked the shawl in Rowan Felted Tweed and size 6 needles and couldn't be happier! I used Stephen West's notes for a "mini" version and the end result is killer! RFT washes into such a soft and warm product, I was really surprised. I highly recommend the pattern and it could be considered good tv knitting for an intermediate as only a few rows require much memory or thought. I took a risk using two neutrals that don't generally go together (a gray and brown) but the two really look good together. I will make another in the coming weeks... Thinking about matching the left over gray with some purple or red... we'll see!

After a week of not getting any postal service, I finally received my Noro Silk Garden for my Lady Eleanor Entrelac Shawl. My Lady El. is looking fabulous! And I am really grasping Entrelac now! I am somewhere into my 600th yard or so, and should be looking at finishing up in the next few days pending getting a few more balls I ordered late Sunday. I will posting photos of it as I work through it but so far so good...

I will be working on the look of the site and putting up new project pages without Ravelry in the coming days so please keep coming back!

Happy Knitting!
(And Happy Birthday to me!)