It's been months since I last posted. What the heck have I been doing? Hmmmm....well, some knitting and listened to lots-O-audiobooks. But most of all, for the last couple of months, I've been trying to re-focus on some long ago goals and work on creating more avenues for income. Re-vamping some text for a future booklet, creating workshops and public talks and stuff like that. Now I've got a Reiki 1 and 2 class all worked out with amazing handouts. I've created a new workshop for our Earth Energy Magnet kit; Pain Reduction with Magnets. I've got a public speaking engagement coming up next Tues (3/21) and did a longer workshop which was a huge success. Now I'm also working on creating a script for a public talk on Opening the Joints in the Hands. I envision creating a DVD on the subject, since so many people, including several knitters have asked me what they can do to help themselves. I occurred to me that would be a wonderful new product to add to our line. Well, there's a lot on the burners here and I feel excited and optimistic about things.
I've finished up my sister's sweater: The
Merino Frappe Kimono Jacket
I used the Peaches & Cream cotton because I was originally planning on making it as a test to check out the fit on my plus-size body and I wanted to make sure that when I used my nicer yarn that I had worked out all the sizing bugs. My sister saw it and fell in love and I offered to give the first one to her. She's just about 6" shorter than me, so the body and arm length are too short for my taste. But, I'm going to post some pictures here.
Here's a close up of the edging done in a moss stitch. This was done as a separate piece and sewed on - front and back. It was a lot of stitching, but it came out beautifully. It really does give a nice finishing touch.
I didn't get a picture of my sister wearing it, unfortunately. I decided not to make the same pattern for myself. I know that drop-shoulders aren't the most flattering on me and until I find a very lightweight well-draping yarn, I'm still on the lookout for a substitute pattern. I've got a couple of ideas. Some of the contenders is the
Simply Heaven Lace Kimono or the
Asheville Jacket , a
Drops casual jacket or the
Komon from Knit Kimono. The Simply Heaven Lace Kimono is heading the list since it doesn't have drop sleeves, however it does call for an Aran Silk yarn and I've got tons of DK that
I'm hoping to use up. I've got to test some swatches to see if there's any way I could manage to get the DK to give me a similar gauge and I'd be good to go. I'm wanting to use some sumptuous yarn that I picked up when LYS closed. I bought out all the
Kraemer Yarns Sterling Silk & Silver that they had and ended up with 8 skeins totaling 3360.0 yards (3072.4 m) . What you can't see well in the photo is that it's got a very fine thread of silver wound with the merino & silk. It's really beautiful. Seeing that I have so many yards of this I wanted to make a sweater/jacket and want to select a style that I'll be able to wear for years.
Anyway.....completed recently.....
Two
Faux Spanish Lace Shawls and they both came out awesome! I used only 1 skein on each shawl, and it's the perfect size - bigger than a triangle scarf, yet small enough to be a more casual looking shawl. First one I did was with some Araucania Ranco Multy that I picked up with a gift certificate I received for Xmas. I actually picked up 2 skeins, but ended up only using one for the shawl, so now I have another for socks. :) (Goofy looking picture of me, but what can I do - I'm goofy looking)
The close-up photo shows better the color. It's really stunning and makes the perfect accessory. If you've never considered this pattern before, I highly recommend it. It's the kind of pattern you can memorize super easily and it doesn't require a ton of concentration, which makes it perfect for a project to pick up when conversing with others, or watching TV or a movie. The yarn is super nice! So soft and the colors are vivid.
I found it very relaxing to make and immediately started a second. That one also came out gorgeous. I guess if the computer geeks can say "garbage in, garbage out", knitting geeks can say "gorgeous in, gorgeous out". Truly I think I'm in love with all the Araucania yarns. Nicole (my daughter) and I stopped by a fairly new LYS last week and it was funny because I kept picking up skein after skein and they were almost all Araucania.
I did find something new and different (in my yarn world).
Wexford Merino Silk from Three Irish Girls. The colorway is called Irish Sea and it's blues, turquoise, teal and a tiny purple. Stunning! This one is a bit longer in the back
than the first, which is alright by me. I found that this winter my upper back was cold and all I wanted to make was triangle shawls. Since we've been sort-of transiting into spring, I've just been wearing this gorgeous little thing out over a very lightweight jacket and it's been perfect.
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