Carousel Lion-first day

The Museum of Folk Art ( http://www.folkartmuseum.org ) in New York City has a fundraiser auction each year. Last year, they sent interested artists a blank doll and asked us to decorate it however we wished. I had fun creating a mermaid in a knitted skin, which was auctioned off. The event is a lot of fun; some of the artwork is quite elaborate and clever. This year the theme is "Carousel" and each artist was sent a wooden animal to decorate however we wish; the deadline however is in one month, so there isn't a lot of time to play around! I got the idea to bead my lion from my husband, who brainstormed with me about it when I opened the giant box. The piece is 21 X 15 inches, and about an inch thick. I was inspired by seeing the amazing work of Liza Lou, who covered ordinary settings in beads ( a kitchen, a back yard, a tool closet...). As I have a lot of beads, I though this would be interesting to do...as I don't usually work with it was a challenge to find a non-toxic glue which would be relatively easy to use. I thought hotmelt glue would be dangerous for my fingers, and was elated to find several glues at the craftstore which will work. Hopefully! I'm using Weldbond, which is a white glue made for glass, wood, etc. So far, the beads are sticking! I spent 5 hours today working on this part, and I'm enjoying the process, although it is painstaking and somewhat messy.
Here is my beginning, though, and I'm having a lot of fun laying out the beads. I hope they will stick! More in a few days...

Triangular Shawl Edgings

I've been fooling around with edgings other than garter stitch,on a triangular shawl, thinking that garter would not stretch as much as the stockinette-based fabric of the rest of the shawl.( Although sometimes perhaps you want this to happen so the thing stays on, but that is a different question...) I found that a 5 stitch edging of ribbing, e.g. PKPKP would have the same vertical stretch as the rest of the shawl, but not curl as a stockinette border would.. I started a shawl using this edge but haven't finished it yet, sorry. But so far, the edge is really nice.The ribbing kind of contracts like I-cord, but has the correct number of rows. And you can start it the way you do the usual 3 stitch garter-edged shawl, e.g.: provisionally cast on 5 sts, PKPKP, turn, KPKPK, etc, until you've done twice the rows needed for picking up on the edge, ( usually around 14 rows,) then pick up 7 sts along the edge of the strip you just knit, then undo the provisional cast on and pick up the 5 live sts. Now you'll have 17 sts on your needle, and you can start your shawl pattern. There is going to be a slight jog where the sts are 1/2 stitch off, but it isn't very noticeable and gets buried in the ribbing ( and is at the back of the neck anyway). Then you can start the pattern of the triangular shawl as usual, marking the 5 edge sts on both ends of the row as you would if doing a garter edge . See photos, and try it!

Miniature leaf Triangle Shawl

Several years ago, I bought one 273 yard skein of Great Adirondack Silk Delight, in Orchid, a lavender, blue, grey, green and purple colorway. It was lovely silk, but I couldn't decide what to make of it, as I only had the one skein. . Last month I played around and made a shrug, using the same pattern I'd used on the black one, but with short sleeves. I finished the piece, but didn't find it flattering. So, I had fun frogging it entirely. Then I thought it would be nice to see if I could make a triangular shawl, using the same stitch pattern, and graphed it out. I liked how the repeats fell regularly, and soon I was happily knitting along on size 10 needles. I had no idea how large it would be, exactly, and I wanted a little bit of a different edging, so as the ball got smaller and smaller, I knit and pondered. ( I also read Harry Potter 7 while I was knitting it, it was such a simple stitch pattern.) Finally I realized I could weigh the yarn remaining with my kitchen scale, so to determine how much to leave for the edging and the bindoff. After about 85 rows, I was ready. I had 12 gm left. I knit another row,and had 10 gm left. So I figured I could knit 3 more rows, so I had 4 gm left for the bind off. I was thrilled that it worked out exactly and I had 2 feet of yarn left at the end! It blocked out at 55 inches wide and 31 inches long, and it was a fun knit. I think my next challenge will be a variation with a straight section in the middle, like the Fareose shaping, to make it slightly wider and to fold better on the body, as the triangle does fall off easily! Now I need a nice shawl pin...

Cat is for scale...

Shrug it off!

After sitting in a tent at an evening party shivering as a cold wind blew into the tent, I decided I needed a warm shrug for just such occasions. I had 4 skeins of Elizabeth Lavold "Classic Al" which is a 50% Alpaca 50% Merino blend. I used the stitch pattern from Pam Allen's Little Silk Shrug on pg 47 of the book "Lace Style" but the construction design of "Retro Redux Shrug" by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark on pg 75 of that lovely book. On size 10 needles, it went fast, and created a comfortable, warm garment. And used up all 440 yards of wool, which is fun to do. I've never worn a shrug before, but I can see the advantages; easy to construct, fun and quick. The disadvantage is that it lands under the arms so if you sweat a lot, it can get sticky there. Then you take it off...the perfect hot flash garment.

Lace vest

I finished my lace vest. Cotton Classic, 5 skeins, size 6(5,4) needles. Very fun to knit, and comfortable to wear. Good thing, as the weather is heating up. I enjoyed designing this, and now am planning my next concoction.

Playing with lace

I became intrigued by a Japanese book I bought recently, of patterned lace, and wondered if I could use a pattern in the book to make an interesting summer tank top/vest thingie. So, I swatched ( in leftover blue Cotton Classic, no.6 US needles, which I had on hand) , calculated and cast on provisionally, for a bottom-up circular tank, figuring I'd knit till long enough, divide for armholes, plug in a V-neck and bind off sloping shoulders, and decide on the edge treatments later..
Of course, after about 4 inches, the pattern seemed way too busy, so I simplified it and decided the bottom was a border, and continued in pattern up the trunk. I'm liking the effect, and having fun seeing what comes next. I'm also going down some needle sizes( 5 then 4, then 5 and 6 again) to create waist shaping. I hope it comes out as I envision, but the journey is sometimes more interesting than the destination...

Wedding Dress Memories

After reading an article in Interweave Knits Summer 2007, pg 16 about the knitted wedding dress, I was reminded of the confection I concocted for my own wedding in 1983. I was doing my internship in Internal Medicine, and didn't have much money, but decided to design and make my dress. I was into crochet at the time, and thought it would be fun to design the lace for the dress. This was prior to digital cameras, of course, and unfortunately the dress won't fit over my decidedly more muscular upper arms these days, so here are some photos of the gown anyway. I'm most amused by the shoes, which were created on a pair of clogs with the tops removed. Those still fit, and are still white, while the dress has yellowed some with age. Fond memories...