Seraphim's humble beginning

Hi All,
It's drive-by blogging today. I don't think I mentioned yet, but I changed my Amazing Lace project to the Seraphim Shawl by Mim, my new favorite lace designer! Not that I have a stable of lace designers, mind you, but I'm loving this knit. I cast with some Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool that I purchased last year at Estes and I cast on the night before our trek to Estes. I had just a little started that I was able to show Mim while at Estes. I was such a nerd, I was so excited to meet Mim. Anyhow, since I cast on for this shawl, I've been knitting it nonstop. As most of you know, I am able to knit some at work while on calls. I had to make myself put it down yesterday as I'm working more of the charted section now (ok, working all charts now) and it's really too difficult to concentrate and oh say help the people I'm supposed to ! :-) Here's where the shawl is now and I apologize in advance for the crappy cell phone pic, but I keep forgetting to take pics for the past few days. And yes, I do have a bajillion stitch markers on it, but I need it. This is my first time doing any charted lace.



Below is a close-up of a couple of the lace repeats in the shawl.


Lastly, I've since picked up Ribby Shell again. It wasn't quite as fun knitting it as it's back and forth knitting since I needed to separate the front from the back. But it's good knitting while talking on the phone, so I switched back to it and it's moving along nicely and now it's not bothering me to knit on it. When I cast on for Seraphim, it seemed like torture to work on Ribby, but now that the rows of Seraphim are getting longer and longer and take an eternity to finish one row, I need to work on something else so that I don't feel frustrated.




That's is from my little corner of the world, not much happening,just a lot of knitting on Seraphim. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. I plan to knit like crazy on Seraphim.

Estes, Estes, Estes

Estes, how many ways can I count the joy that is Estes?


The joy of hanging out with my girls?
Michelle invited us into her home to spend the night and then we got an early start for Estes shopping. Below is a group picture of some of the Denver knitters at the blogger-meetup at Estes.




Then I got to meet new friends. One of which is Margene. Last year I spotted Margene, b/c really, Margene is a tall lady that you cannot miss. But I didn’t “know” her, so I shied back and didn’t introduce myself. This year, I vowed I would not be the shy wallflower. I got to meet many bloggers from the Utah crew and beyond. I was so excited to meet Jen, Snow, as well as seeKristi and see Amanda again, whose blog I can't find the name of right now, sorry! I also saw Michaele again, who was a "Utahn", but she will moving back to Denver, yay! I met some new bloggers to me from Utah, such as Mim (whose patterns I love and I may have scared her a bit with my enthusiasm!) but sadly I missed meeting Stephanie from Wyoming. Maybe next time.



Besides meeting new friends and hanging out with old friends, there was shopping! I'm not much into the animals, so animal shots here. This girl was all about the yarn and no, no fiber, because I don't spin. Not knockin' those that do, I just don't. Right, so onto to the yarn. First we have some beautiful cormo. Since last year when I first put my hands on it, but I was lacking cash, so I petted it and moved on, I've really liked this vendor, Elsa Sheep And Wool. All of their yarn is in natural colors, which I thought might be just wonderful for a Madli's Shawl. The yarn is 2-ply and supposedly laceweight, but this yarn is a bit thicker than that, perhaps fingering or sportweight, but what's nice about it is besides from the beautiful grey color, is that the wool is soft (not the softest yarn I've ever touched, but it is soft) and sproingy. It feels like a sponge. I walked around holding my little quarter lb. of love yesterday. Each hank sports 700+ yards. Gotta love that.


At the booth of Skaska Designs owned by Galina Khmeleva, I picked up some lovely laceweight yarns. The yarn is called Superlamb, has 1,315 yds and 100% wool. I chose two colors, one a lovely light gray color, Lead, to be used for Mim's Icarus shawl and the second in a Tourmaline color for a Leaf Lace Shawl, possibly.



Next up is Plain and Fancy Sheep and Wool Company in Henderson, TX. I cannot overstate how much I love their yarns. Every year, I go back for more. The first pic is 2 skeins of sportweight in pinks and greens and this is to make some sort of scarf, shawl, something for my cousin who was sick earlier this year. She's in a sorority (AKA) and those are their colors. I know she would be happy with anything, but to have something in "her" colors will be even better. I'm thinking perhaps a Clapotis or something lacy, we'll see.



Then I have 4 skeins more of Plain & Fancy, but this time in turquoise, also sportweight, but to make a sweater for me. Don't know a pattern or anything yet, but I do love it and it is subtly variegated in the same color. Plus, I couldn't decide on a variegated color. I did see a color that I love that Margene got, but I think she grabbed it all before I got there. Next time I know to be right at the P&F booth first thing!

Lastly, I also bought some yarn at Brooks Farm. I was pretty sure I would get away unscathed seeing as how most of their yarn contains mohair and I'm allergic. But some yarn ended up in my hot little hands! Finally a yarn that I will use for Clapotis! Both yarns are a Limited Edition I, that it appears are only sold at shows. It contains 60% superwash wool, 20% silk and 20% viscose. I've heard rumors this is their sock yarn, but I'm not sure about that. Nonetheless, the 2 skeins that are shades of brown and blue, that will be for my Clapotis. The red yarn, I don't know what I will do with it just yet, but the color is beautiful and I will find a use for it, not to worry. Each hank has 420 yards and it appears to be sportweight to me.



And that my friends is the fun that was Estes! Next up, my new lace project and I have been getting quite cozy.

One word Meme

Although I don't do this often(memes), I'm doing this one because it is simple and doesn't require much for me to do it. It's also very interesting to me to see how others perceive me.

Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me — it can only be one word long. Then copy and paste this into your blog so that I may leave a word to describe you.

There you have it! Comment now.

Green, no, Blue Gable finished

Finally I have another FO to show. With a nod to Project Spectrum, I've actually finished a project in the month that is this color. This one is Blue Gable. It's taken awhile, although technically I was finished a few weeks ago. I'm not exactly thrilled with this project and I think I will need to make a few more mods before I'm truly happy with it, but it depends on if I really feel like doing it.



Project: Green Gable
Yarn used: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in color Columbine
Project time: May 1st-May 30th
Modifications: I made the 38" bust size initially but was concerned about the fit, so I upped the size to the 40". After blocking, it fits a bit big in the neck area. I think a round of single crochet around the neckline will take care of it. I did use more waist decreases for a fitted look, but after washing, the sweater loosened up a bit, so it kind of doesn't matter I suppose. After doing about 5 or 6 waist decreases for shaping, I then increased 4-5 rounds. I'm mostly pleased with the fit, but the sleeves are a bit off. After wearing it a bit, I think I prefer the cap sleeves, so I will have to rip those back again, but at least that will be pretty easy. I may rip back the bottom bind off and make the body about 1.5 to 2" shorter too. It's just not quite right, but I think once I make those changes I will be totally happy. I can't tell you when that's going to happen, b/c it's too hot to wear it now and I'm just not in the mood to actually deal with the changes, hence why I'm going ahead and posting a pic b/c I probably won't talk about this one again for a long time.

Next up, the Estes score!

Something Fishy going on

So sorry for the lack of updates. I've barely been able to keep my head above water, both literally and figuratively. However literally, it doesn't really matter for the sake of my swimming lessons that I've signed up for. They seem to want my face in the water, not above it.

Ahh, it's been so busy lately, esp. with M's family in time. I've just not had any available time. And of course Estes is this coming weekend. I can't wait to go shopping for wool and meeting bloggers face-to-face!

As I mentioned in a previous post, this past weekend I took a class with Nancy Bush on Estonian lace. It was quite the exciting class, but for the best description's of it, see Cyn's or Joanne's accounts. They say everything I could and more. I worked on a sampler, but haven't made any progress since class. I'll have to post more about that.

The only consistent knitting I've been doing is working on a sock. It's by Opal in the Docktorfish or Fish colorway. I just love it and have been enjoying knitting it. The fact that it's stockinette really helps since I'm becoming more and more lace-obsessed, but no time to actually cast on for it.


My plans for the Amazing Lace have changed (surprise!) yet again, but I'll save that for another time.

Later, after Estes!

Addicted

Something I've been remiss in posting about it is a project that I started over the Memorial Day Weekend. It's another raglan, but this time bottom-up. Something I haven't done too much of, but what I realize that is so addicting about these projects for me is the circular knitting quality. There's no end of the row, just passing a stitch marker over that indicates the beginning of the round, so it's easy to just keep knitting and very hard to stop, but they make for great knitting progress. This is a project that I'd wished I'd started last year, so I'm very happy to have this one on my needles, which is the Ribby Shell by Bonne Marie. I love the construction of it and the version I am making is the flat panel version with stockinette on front and back of this top and ribbing on the sides, v. similar to Donna in that design. I really like that aspect of it.



In that picture, I was at 6 inches into the body. Now I'm at about 13 inches into the body and I'll soon start working the V-neck for front and back. This little baby is going quickly. The yarn I'm using is Classic Elite Believe in a cream color. Apparently this yarn is discontinued as I cannot even locate it on the Classic Elite website. It's a nice cotton/rayon something else mix and what I like are the slubby bits that give it some visual interest.

I've also cast on for a sock, in Opal, in the Doktorfish colorway. I'll soon post pics, although it will be sometime next week. I've also finished and blocked Green Gable, just need to get a pic in. Hopefully soon, otherwise, sometime later next week, as M's father and one sister and one brother are coming into town this Sunday for a few days. And on Saturday I'm taking an Estonian lace class with Nancy Bush. I have no idea what Estonian lace may be, but we're taking it! (we being Michelle, Cynthia and I).

I'll chat with you all later, hope all is going well.

Intro to the Amazing Lace

Tardy as ever, I would like to thank everyone first for your sweet comments on the Cabaret Red Raglan. I really appreciated them and absolutely love the sweater. As I mentioned in a previous post, I changed my mind about what project I would do for the Amazing Lace. Initially, my plans were to go with Cozy. I'd planned what I was going to do and say about Cozy and then last weekend as it got considerably hotter, I realized that I don't really want to knit on a long wrap/stole in the summer with no AC(as my condo doesn't have AC), so that turned out to be a bad idea.

But for the Amazing Lace, I've picked out a new partner,CeCe. CeCe hails from the streets of Chi-town, courtesy of Bonne Marie. I think CeCe is the perfect teammate for the Amazing Lace challenge. Since I have special needs, the need to not sweat while knitting wool as this project will most likely be knitted at home and the thought of knitting laceweight yarn is not appealing to me at this very moment, obviously we had to come to a compromise. After seeing numerous CeCes in progress throughout the web, it became clear. A lace garment would be just my speed. CeCe won out a)mostly because I saw it and loved it and finally seeing Bonne Marie's finished Red CeCe sent me over the edge last weekend and I had to have it and b)garments have been my "thang" lately, so why not a lacy cardi, even if it is bottom-up and not top-down,it should be all good.

I'm very much looking forward to CeCe and I getting better acquainted with a cast-on sometime this week. The yarn I will be using is a discontinued yarn from Reynolds, Sedona, a 100% mercerized cotton yarn in a beautiful plum color. I can't wait to get started!!