New Adventure

Today I began a new adventure in knitting. My MIL requested a dresser scarf for Christmas. I'd never heard of such a thing, so I did a little Rav research and found a few patterns. I bookmarked one of them, but wasn't in love. Then when Knit Picks had a sale on laceweight yarn I snapped up some Shimmer in Cumulus - the perfect colorway for my MIL! Unfortunately, my bookmarked pattern and my yarn did not match. I did more searching, but found nothing to my liking. Enter the Interweave Knits "101 Stitches to Knit" card set. I found two lace patterns I liked and decided to try my hand at putting them together.

The Fire Fountain Dresser Scarf was born (in my head anyway). Because this is lace, I've taken a few good notes on what I'm doing so I may even be able to share this pattern when it is completed. I'll have to double check copyrights on the lace patterns first, though. When I've got enough of it done to look like something, I'll post a picture. For now, just wish me luck!

The Return of the Fir

I've finally gotten back to knitting on my Fir Cone Square Shawl. Over the weekend I ripped the whole thing out, went down a needle size, and started over. I'm much happier with the results now. Now, if only my cat would stop looking threateningly at the yarn... one snap of those jaws would snip it in two and I'd have to figure out how to weave in ends on lace. *gulp*

I am able to spend time on the shawl now because I've completed my bridesmaids gifts! I'll post pictures after the wedding - they're a surprise! But I think they're precious! I can't wait to show them off! Just a little more than 6 weeks now... we're getting close!

With this being Holy Week and last week being incredibly busy with a funeral and other goings on, I'm looking forward to a bit more knitting time after Easter. I'm starting to feel yarn-deprived!

Finally working on the Fir!

I had every intention of starting this in January. Here it is almost October. Ah well. Here's the Ravelry link. My Fir Shawl.

I've also posted pictures of some of my other back projects. Please peruse there, if you can.

Here's my favorite finished sweater for those of you who aren't on Ravelry.

Pattern: Samus, from Knitty.com
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Tweed in grey and maroon

Finals Time

It is amazing the amount of work professors throw at you at the end of a semester. I wonder if they forget that we're taking more than one class at a time. Or maybe they just like to burden themselves with a huge stack of 10 page papers just before Christmas so they can get out of hanging up the outside lights.

In any case, knitting progress has been crawling recently. I did finish off the last round of a crocheted granny square lap blanket this evening after chapel. Its very bright and cheerful (think safety neon orange and bright yellow)! I've also started a simple scarf for charity that I can work on while I'm reading theology. Our professor is writing the manuscript for our textbook and has been working on it for the past 13 years or so. This means that we get it in a huge notebook and it lays open very nicely so I can read and knit at the same time! I need more books like that.

In lieu of actually knitting, I've been feeding my yarn habit by plotting my knitting for Christmas break and J-term. In December I need to finish the two sweater projects I've got, then I don't have to take any J-term classes so I've got most of January open! I've settled on the Fir Cone Square Shawl from Folk Shawls as my major project. I just need to get needles for that. Its my first major lace project and I'm very excited about it! If anyone has any suggestions for books on tape that would go well with lace knitting, please let me know!