First Laceweight Project

I have Laceweight yarn. I also have quite a few projects I'd like to do, but first a simple one, a one row lace scarf. With this yarn 

Air Plants!

I have been fascinated lately with Air Plants. Also known as Tilandsia epiphytes. They don't need dirt to live. They just need to be dunked in water once a week or so, depending on how humid your  area is.

My birthday was coming up, so I had the perfect excuse to get some.
I ordered them from Tropical Expressions. Since I am just starting out, I got the 11 pack of random plants. I ordered them on a Thursday and they arrived on the Tuesday. (Monday was a stat, so they might even have been here faster!).

Here they are soaking after their arduous journey:

And drying out, I attempted to figure out which plant they were and labelled em, correctly, I hope!



and all together:


I forgot to get a labelled pic of the Bulbosa....

Here is one of the little displays I have put together:


Another display:



And the display I am most excited about (excuse the crap lighting...raining, AGAIN, here)



I glued together some of the wine corks I have been saving and put it up on a little stand. I am really pleased with this one.

ciao!

Been a While

So, I haven't posted lately because I was on vacation in Italy and then work kind of ate my life. This is where I was:





In the Alps near Trento. The  weather was unseasonably cold.

So the vacation knitting I brought along turned out to be useful too:



These are the Slouchy Gauntlets made in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. Nice easy pattern, great for vacation knitting.

Antique Yarn

Many moons ago my aunt let my sister and i go stash diving in HER stash and take home yarn from Italy. I saw some red angora that just SCREAMED at me to take. So I did.  And it sat in MY stash for years waiting for just the right project.,  Then Kate Middleton got married and wore a little angora number at her reception. I am not a 'royal watcher' but the sweater looked perfect!

Tada!



Pattern: Royal Shrug
Yarn: Angor'Anny, 6 balls of it. A fair bit leftover from those 6.
Needles: size 9
Modifications: Many. I knit the sweater 2 inches longer and blocked severely for length. I have a 38.5" chest which falls right in between 2 sizes, So I knit the smaller size and added 4 stitches to each front piece.
I knit the sleeves 3 quarter length and did no decreases. I did the front and back separate,seamed together and then knit the sleeves on instead of seaming them on. (I picked up the total number of stitches around the whole armhole and then did short rows corresponding to the pattern backwards from the shoulder down.) I DID do the crochet edging as the edges really needed that finishing touch.

Overall I am VERY pleased.

Beltway

I recently went shopping and found a black jumpsuit. (you know, shirt attached to pants) that made me feel very Audrey Hepburn-esque when I tried it on. So of course I bought it!  The belt is a bit sad. A black elastic affair with 2 small pseudo-leather strips that have gold studs (to match the god buttons). So I decided I should knit myself a colourful belt to wear.

In keeping with my efforts to knit down stash, I went stash diving and found some banana silk yarn I acquired ages ago.



Now to find a pattern.....

Nessie Knit

I recently participated in a scarf themed swap. Here was my contribution:



Pattern: Nessie-English
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit sock yarn
Modifications: The lace inset is written as a doubling of stitches (k1 yo) but I did not have enough yarn when I did that, despite the pattern's statement that 400yds should be enough. I was seriously short even thought the skein was 459 yards. So I did yo k2tog. I also did a picot bindoff.

This yarn is a lovely soft wool. A pleasure to knit with. It had been sitting in my stash for way too long, so I am glad it has gone to a good home!

ciao

Stash Shrug

I've had this Rowan linen Print yarn in the stash for a while and never really saw a pattern I wanted to make  with it. Then I saw the Shrug pattern by Bonnie Jacobs. However I did not have enough yarn to do it without mods. In addition, the Rowan was bulkier than the yarn called for. So, this is heavily modified.

Yarn: Rowan linen print
Mods:

•  Size 8 needles for cuffs and 10’s for sleeves/body. 
•  Did increase on rows 1 AND 3 of the the 5 row repeat (instead of just row 1) 
•  Did a garter border on the body to prevent stockinette roll  (not enough yarn to knit on                  border after). Thus sleeves are shorter and more dolman-like

Piccies!

Happy knitting!

Stash Using

I am trying to use up some stash, so I have been matching up yarn I have with patterns I have queued on Ravelry. Here is one such project.




Pattern: Poplar Cowl
Yarn: Lana Grossa Basics Stop

This is an easy 4 row per repeat cowl. Good tv knitting. The yarn is an acrylic rayon blend. Can be splitty, but not horribly so. This is going in the gift box for whoever I decide it goes to, in time.....

Ciao