Knitting Blue

The blues that I've been feeling the last couple of months shows in my knitted finished objects. All blue!

First up is a Diamond Fantasy Shawl designed by Sivia Harding. It felt like I was the last knitter on earth who hadn't knit one of these and I definitely understand the appeal now. Wonderfully written pattern and very soothing, rhythmic stitch pattern. The yarn is Claudia's Fingering Handpaint in Sea Dreams. I added silver lined crystal beads to the middle of each diamond and sawtooth point. Made a size somewhere between the scarf and shawl which took slightly less than 4 skeins.

I omitted the I-cord cast off because I wanted the sawtooth edge to go around the perimeter of the whole shawl. At that point I made a long length of the edging and then did a modified Russian graft to attach it. The trick is to make sure you leave the slipped stitch edge very loose on the border so there is plenty of s-t-r-e-t-c-h in it.

When I started blocking it...uh oh...
Either I missed a Sk2p in the last row or a stitch while doing the Russian graft because a hole developed right smack in the middle of the top edge. I isolated all the sts I could find with safety pins so I could continue blocking it and when it was dry, I carefully reformed the lace pattern and tied off the st that didn't get attached to the border. Tried to get a close up so you could see but it's a little blurry and off center.
The cold weather hit just after getting home from Hawaii in the beginning of Dec, and since my mom has been used to spending winters in warm places I decided to make her a hat. The only one she had was a Packer hat back from when they had season tickets and when I *made* her wear it the day after we returned, she kept muttering that she felt like a freak (hey, the Packers were even playing really well this year, too!).

I've always loved the lace tam from Gathering of Lace designed by Lois Mueller and even had a skein in the stash of Kimmet Fairy Hare I'd bought my first year at Knitting Camp.
Was a nice quick little project and I discovered something I used to do but somehow forgot along the way. When you're closing up the hole in the top of a hat/thumb/glove finger by threading the remaining yarn through all the sts that are left, continue running it through the first one again. The hole will close up much nicer and tighter.

Also knit another camp shawl.
This one was out of another long marinating skein of handpainted yarn from Joslyn's Fiber Farm in my all time favorite colorway--DewDrops. It's what she calls Mohair Myst and is a dk/worsted weight Wool/Mohair blend.
Because the yardage was just under what I needed, I opted to do one less point so as not to run out. Because the vertical garter stitch is stretchy, it still fits nicely.

Next, my toes needed a little warmth.

Right after camp, I'd started a pair of felted slippers from Dale Long's great pattern. I used Briggs & Little Regal in a lavender/blue color called Fundy Fog. This yarn didn't felt for me very well but produced a nice soft slightly fuzzy fabric. They ended up a little wide for me but I'm using them for spinning slippers so it didn't really matter.
This in not the best representation of the pattern-- Dale's slippers out of Lamb's Pride were so much nicer!

My knitting project for the Hawaii trip was my spindled Blue Hawaii yarn using my basic sock recipe--toe up, short row soles, afterthought heels, and graduated ribbing.
It was fun to watch the colors come and go. This was the yarn I spun in the fractal stripes technique as illustrated in Spin Off last summer. It'll be interesting to see how the second sock turns out during the return Hawaii trip in April.

Finally, we have the Cherry Blossom shawl from IK Spring 2002. The yarn had been in my stash since that time and I wanted a lightweight cover to use on the plane to Hawaii. Let me say that these photos do not accurately represent the color at all. It is a very soft lt. blue, not aqua at all. I needed it to be finished quickly so went with a ready made pattern instead of spending time swatching and choosing lace patterns myself.
This is basically a Pi shawl with a swirl used in the middle. Going from one method of making a circle (swirl) to another (Pi) seems to create a problem.
I blocked this very hard--had to, to get it to lay flat. But, it seems to have developed a big poof in the middle as it has relaxed a bit again. Doesn't show so much when worn as I usually turn back one edge to form a shawl collar in the front and the weight of the bottom edge tends to straighten it out.
So, enough of the blues for awhile.