FO's - Misti and Mohair Lace Projects

 

Last weekend, Labor Day weekend, we went on a road trip to my MIL's home on the shores of Lake Erie, Ohio's Great Lake.  We spent the weekend zipping around the area, or just hanging around the house.  It's nice to get away from the regular routine once in a while.

On Monday morning, we got up around dawn and walked out to the beach for some spectacular sunrise photos.  

It's so peaceful in the early morning when no one is around yet, and even the gulls are quiet.

 

The lake was glassy smooth and calm and we walked along with our tea and coffee, enjoying the serenity and yet contemplating our soon return to the hectic, work-a-day world.

Some of the best parts about the trip were I got to visit two yarn shops (which I'll share in my next post) and I was able to finish more knitting projects!  Some of the FO's are blocking but I did manage to get a few photos.

The photo at the top of the post is a lace cowl in Feza Iplik Kid Mohair blend yarn. This yarn is typically mohair-sticky, but makes a pretty and soft lace cowl for a bargain price.  It may not be as luscious as my favorite mohair/ silk blends, but it makes a beautiful project.  I knitted this piece on US 7/ 4.5 mm needles to keep it light and airy. 

I also finally took a few photos of my shawlette in Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace.  I loved the colors, which remind me of spring wildflowers - phlox, cranesbill, violets, spring beauties, and dogwoods.  I wanted to keep it fairly simple since the yarn was so colorful, and started with a garter stitch tab and worked down from the neck in a wide triangle silhouette.  

I intended to stay simple with just garter stitch, but the exquisitely soft alpaca begged to be made into something feminine, so after the garter section, I added some simple lace and a small ruffle. I love the silky softness and pretty colors over a plain camisole top for summer and cooler, early fall evenings.  

The yarn, while lovely, is a delicate weight and maddeningly slippery, so wood or bamboo needles are highly recommended!  I knitted this on US 6/ 4mm Knitpicks Harmony circular wood needles, which have a nicely pointed tip, great for lace or tiny yarn.

I have much more to share, but I will save that for next time...

Summer Knitting

Summer is truly upon us now that the 4th is over and the days are in the 90's, but that doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for picking up my knitting!  I admit; however, to a preference for lightweight yarns and projects.

June was my month to work up the slate Hempathy top, mentioned in some other posts.  I'll try to get a few good photos of it posted this week sometime.

I've also been adding bits here and there to my little alpaca shawlette.  This is one of those projects I love to have around to pick up and work a row or two when I don't feel like working on other things.  It's also light enough to not feel hot while it sits on my lap. 

I had a vague idea that I wanted a textured shawl in my favorite wide triangle shape, so I just went ahead and cast on the yarn, Misti Alpaca Lace in a lovely hand-painted colorway #22.

The purples, greens, blues, pinks and golds reminds me so much of the wildflowers along the nature trails where we like to hike and run.  In the spring, there's columbine, cranesbill, dogwood, violets, trillium and phlox and those have phased through to wild roses, honeysuckle, Queen Anne's lace, echinacea and rudbeckia amongst many others in recent weeks.

 I started the shawl with a garter stitch tab and began working down in garter stitch, with a 3 stitch border on each edge, and increases worked on each outside edge and on either side of the center stitch on right side rows, and on the outside edges only on wrong side rows.   This increase method makes the triangle shallow and wide - a great shape to wear draped as a scarf or wrapped to accent the shoulders.  And I love working multi-colored yarn in a texture like garter stitch because the nature of the stitch adds a three-dimensional quality to the surface to help break up pooling and splotches.

I'll be posting more about this project and yarn later.   Right now, I' m also working on a bunch of new designs - a soft cardi-shrug, a scarf pattern and several top-secret projects for publication.  The cardigan was a big hit at the knitting events I've attended lately but I want to knit it up in a couple of other yarns before making a final decision.  The pattern is mostly written though, and will be test-knit soon. And that's just for starters, there's a few other things cooking at various stages of 'done-ness' as well as those mentioned already, but I'll save those for another time.

Have a great week!