In which I try to convince myself: It's all about the process

deep, calming breath. It's all about the process.

Which is a good thing, since I'm spending a lot of time going back to the frog pond lately.

repeat after me: It's all about the process.

Posh Yarn Beatrice in Claret, Cleopatra wrap from Sensual Knits, size 3 needles. I didn't do a gauge swatch (it's lace--who needs a gauge swatch?)

Me, evidently; but it will be fine, since it's all about the process.

I'm 10" in, but already 25% of the way though the yarn.

I can knit it again. More time for process.

The pattern is lovely, the yarn is perfect, the color is gorgeous. So I should be happy to have more time to knit with it, right?

P is for . . .

Posh yarn Swallowtail

Beaded, because I nupped enough with Madli's Shawl to be done with that for a while, and because I only had 400 yards of yarn and wanted to squeeze as much shawl out of it as possible. The yarn is a dream--it is, as someone of Ravelry remarked, like knitting with kittens. so. very. soft.

The finished size is 52" by 24" (unblocked it was 32" by 16"), on size 3 needles. I added a couple of repeats of the last two rows of the peaked edging chart and wound up with less than a gram of yarn remaining--it's not enough to register on my scale. (Raveled here.)

It's a birthday present for one of my college roommates--we've grown apart over the years, because we've moved, and found new interests, and time, and all the usual stuff, but 35 is a big birthday, and I though pink cashmere with sparkles was a good present for such an occasion. But that's not until October, so once it's dry I'll pack it way careful and hope I don't forget where I put it!

A bigger picture:


P is also for the pi shawl that's been languishing in my almost-but-not-quite done pile for about 3 months now--it needed to have the ends woven in, and to be blocked. I finally got myself motivated to finish it:

Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace, in Watercolor, size 5 needles, EZ's Pi Shawl pattern. (Raveled here.)

Road trip

To Green Mountain Spinnery, in Putney, VT:

Maine Organic, worsted weight wool, 250 yards. A winter hat?

Spinnery Sock Art, Forest (wool/tencel blend). It's a light fingering, so maybe a scarf, rather than socks.
Life's been a bit rough the last few days, and the DH decided we should take a ride. (Ironically, of course, we drove 300 miles round trip to buy organic yarn, but . . . ). And since he wanted to cheer me up, we drove up to Vermont and had a bit of a look around. Although we hadn't called ahead, or made any arrangments for a tour, the people at the Spinnery were super nice and showed us around, anyway.

O is for Object, finished

The pattern: Madli's Shawl, from IK Summer 2004. (This is a really hard-to-find issue, but I think the pattern will be reprinted in Nancy Bush's new book, Knitted Lace of Estonia, which is coming out in October.)

The details: School Products baby camel lace weight, just under 2 skeins (I have 5 grams left in the second skein, plus a third that I didn't touch!). The pattern calls for 1092 yards of laceweight; I used about 725, and added in two repeats of the center panel. I also went down a size for the needles (US 4 instead of US 5), but the finished size was fairly generous--24" wide by a little over 62" long.

The verdict: I love this shawl. I'd originally earmarked the yarn & pattern for myself, but when my mom (my mom, who keeps telling me she'll never wear lace and so there's no point in making her anything) really really liked it. What's a girl to do except give it to her mom? Which is exactly what I did. But I'd make this pattern again (in a while, because even though all those nupps were fine, I think I'd like a break from them!) and I'd definitely use this yarn again. At $9.50/skein, it's a beautiful, soft, warm, and slightly exotic; since I go to NYC a couple of times a year, I'm planning another trip to School Products.