Niebling Summer KAL update

Well, the official start isn't until this weekend, but I am working away at mine. While I was taking a progress shot (I don't usually do this too much for a doily), I realized how thin my thread was, so I thought I'd take a pic for posterity.


This is left to right: #10 thread, #20 thread, and what I'm working with right now, #100 thread.

This is a needle comparison:
Top down: US8, US1, US000, US0000, US6X0


As for the update on the KAL, here it is:


oh, also, guess what I finally ordered....



Thanks for the present! This is a gift from my MIL. Love it!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the fathers out there, have a great one!

Niebling Summer KAL

This summer's KAL is this doily.

I decided I'd try to knit this with the smallest thread I can find. I went to Lacis (again) and talked w/ Erin, the manager. She pointed out the Cordonnet #100 and I also got 0000 metal dpn needles (1.25mm). I figured these should work.

Wish me luck, y'all.

As for other projects, I'm still working on Filigree. It's a bit stalled because I'm trying to decide how to extend the size. I think I'll do a row of leaves (like the edging), and then do another row of flowers ala goldmohn, or just another ring of leaves.

I've also fallen in love with the alternate form of Peacock shawl (Fiddlesticks) that is done in a rectangular stole shape. It looks easy peasy to go from triangle to rectangle.

I'm presently trying to decide among:
1) black bamboo laceweight
2) blue green cashmere laceweight
3) vivid blue tencel
4) basil zephyr

decisions...decisions...

Oh, I need a cardigan or two. I'm working on a black cardi (boring stockinette) based loosely on cropped cardi from Knitty, except mine will not be cropped, nor will it be that low cut. I'm also trying to decide what to use for the adult EZ Feb sweater. I figured I've made 3 children one's, I should make one for me.

Napperon Carre

Isn't Napperon Carre just a beautiful name? yep, it means 'square mat'.



Anyway, this was an interesting knit. The flowers are all crossed stitches, and then you crochet bind off and then pick up stitches (makes that cool loop) and continue. I did end up modifying it a tad. Bind off is at round 113, but I went up to 115 (keeping in hex-mesh and edging pattern). Then for the crochet bind off, I knit together 4 loops at hex mesh, 3 at the triangular points, 5-5-5-5, 4-5-4, 5-5-5-5. Crochet 14 instead of 20 chain (too loopy).



Yes, there was binding. I wish I remembered that when I looked at the picture, it looked like it binds right at the start of the flowers. I wish I had remembered that. It would have been easy to put in another hex mesh there. Drats.



Started May 30, 2008

Finished June 7, 2008

Cebelia #20

1.5 balls

US1 Addi Turbo Lace

Dragone comes alive

Finally got around to finding the perfect eye for the Dragone, it's a swarovski crystal.



It's attached with 30 gauge wire.

Adventures

On Monday, I went over to the other side of the Bay and purchased this cool swift from a fellow Raveler. This is a Squirrel cage swift. The ball winder I've owned. I'm just super glad the winder now has a place to live.

I needed another swift, even though I already have my wonderful amazing Goko swift. The only design flaw with goko is that it doesn't expand wide enough to handle larger skeins. Isn't it a beaut?



I thought since I was in San Mateo, it would be a good time to visit a Nine Rubies, a yarn store located in the Downtown area.

The folks there were very nice and the yarns were lovely. Unfortunately, they didn't have that much lace, but I did go home with my Mmmmalabrigo laceweight in apple green (okay, this was the only color they had.

Okay, this apple green is not a good color for me, but isn't it lovely? And I'm sure I know someone that would like this color...

Then later in the week, I went to Lacis. As the whole Niebling loving community now knows, they are publishing Lyra. Yay.

Weave That.

A bit ago, I tried out the Weave It loom at the Color Fiber Festival, and somehow, I ended up with not one but several Weave It looms, and a Love&Money loom set too! And somehow, the hotpad loom, another little loom (which isn's supposed to be great, but whatever.

Here's my little collection of Weave it looms (plus that little loom that's not a Weave It loom.)


How'd that happen?

they're housed in my Powepuff girl metal box. See how the needles are held on by a magnet that's stuck on the box? (saw that's what GirlontheRocks did).

Anyway, I've now tried a couple of squares and made a couple of birdies with them. My goal is to actually make something that folks don't think...'uhmmm. They're squares'--or in this case, squares folded in half.



What shall I make next? I don't know...

Slaying the Dragon

I'm done I'm done I'm done.

Blocked yesterday. Here it is.



It's massive. It's huge. I wish I had used a smaller needle.


okay, I'm off to the bead store to find a bead for the eye.

Lyra Sister finished

I thought I'd do a semi-quickie Niebling. Funny, it only ends up being 30ish rows less than Lyra. But this turned out much smaller than I thought (at 65cm squared). I've really admired it since I saw it a while ago, mostly because I like squares a bit more than circles.

This is 418/23 from the Burda Lace Special. It's apparently also known as Hannelore (don't ask me why, I don't know...never saw this name to this pattern except on Ravelry). It was a little knit in that it took me a little over a week, but it wasn't as fun as I was hoping b'cause of the the ground stitches. Ends up this is the same background as Dragone and crossed stitches to boot(which I will show you later once I've got it blocked). So, while instead knitting the edging of Dragone, I knit this up.

Specs:

Started May 15 2008
Completed May 24 2008

thread used: Cebelia #20 in white (1.4 balls)

needle size: USo (2mm) dpn and circs

Modifications: none. Oh, wait, I'm fibbing. I did sort of have to mess with the final bind off a little. I'm not sure if I actually changed the grouping of the loops or not, but the way I did it worked out. (I did a 4-3-5-3-4, unless there was a leaf coming up, then it was 4-3-5-3-3 grouping. And at the corner, I did the 4-3-5-3-4--4 at the corner). heck, if you are knitting this ditty and are confused, email me and I'll draw it out.

I love how the flower is crossed stitches. So very Niebling.

Swirl Twirl

This was a easy knit (once I got over the simple math since I wanted to make a few changes).



2 is the number of balls of Jojoland Harmony yarn I purchased from Stitches West

3 is the size needles I used

21 is the number of days it took for me to make this

80 is the grams of Jojoland yarn used (1.4 balls)

65 is the number of spirals I made

67 is the number of pins I used to block this sucker

1920 is the number of stitches picked up

2760 is the number of stitches I cast on



130 is the number of ends I wove in.

But here it is....



whew. Worth it? I think so...

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl!

Why was I not at Maker Faire this weekend? Well, I have a birthday party this weekend for my wonderful little Creature A.

This year, we decided on cupcake cake and a party at the park. And we opted to supplement the store cake w/ home-made minicupcakes. I saw these on this site and had to try them. They are so cute!

Okay, ...I've made flourless chocolate cake from scratch, cookies, cream puffs, English toffee, tortes, tarts, cakes, etc...but I've never made cupcakes!

So, first attempt. Utter failure. I read that you're to fill the cup anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 full. Yep, I opted for the 2/3 full. Oh, what a mess. (nothing to see here...please keep moving...)

Try II. Went to get more of the mini-nut holders and big box M store did not have any! Did find them finally and made these.

Note how I went the other way this time and filled everything only to half. And the white cake shrank! Ah, well. Trusty intarweb told me that I can add more frosting to compensate. Aha.

Here's what they look like after frosting.

We got a store cupcake cake (only served 14) and you guessed it, only the adults ate the itty bitty cakes. The kids all went for the big giant cupcakes. Anyway, the party was loads of fun, for everyone but you guessed it, little Miss Creature. She didn't feel good in the morning, and napped (very unlike her) in the morning. She was a bit clingy but we put it down to party stress...nope. As we were loading stuff up to go home, yep, there was erpage.

As for the nut holder cups? Went to MickyD's today and they had literally stacks of them...darn, I wish I had known, wouldn't have needed to traipse all over town looking for these suckers. Could have just used the Double Arches ketchup cups.

Okay, back to knitting.

Update on KAL and Happy Happy Happy

Just a quick update on the KAL fiasco, as flutter says, yes, that's the designer. But I did get a chuckle from someone else's post (which will likely get deleted on the board), turns out her other job is...as a psychic. The poster made a snark about how if she was good at her job, she should have foreseen this (almost made me spray my monitor with my Diet Coke). hee. I thought it was funny.

eta: Thanks for all the comments!


Anyway, onward to fun stuff. Saturday, I and the girl went up to Color: A festival of fiber. I wish I had signed up for the spinning class before hand, since the classes were full when we got there, but I did manage to check out Girl On the Rock's tutorial about weaving using a mini-loom. What fun (except when A thought it would be funny to run away from mom on several occasions - sigh). In between the chasing, I did manage to make this cell phone doohicky.

So very cool. I now must go find this loom. They're right now going for ~$30-60 a pop. I'm thinking more in the $15 range...I'd make one, but it would be nice to have one in front of me to check it out first.

And they had amazing lovely roving. It's really too bad I can't spin (yet). So I didn't buy any roving. I looked and petted and even allowed A to pet (after I checked that she had clean fingers of course). I also arranged to meet up with the lovely marlowec from Ravelry who yay, gave me some lovely sock yarn. And she was super nice and gave A pineapple.

But after a bit, A was losing it (no nap) and we had to leave. Actually, I don't think we could have done the spinning class. All that whirling and twirling would have sent little A into uber-creature mode. It was a small gathering, but very cool. I hope they do it again (and often).

Then on Sunday, I went to the local library to meet up w/ Ravelry folks. And what was a special treat was that a lace knitting friend who dropped off family at the airport was able to come by and knit with us.

So, pretty productive weekend of fiber. I am now working on the 4 out of 5 rows on the swirly stole (I of course modified the pattern and it's a few less circles/row. I really like it since it's portable and super easy pattern to remember (ask me again when I'm weaving in bazillion ends).

rolling eyes at KAL

I like knitalongs...I might not knit along, I might not even contribute to the chatter, but I like them. I marvel at the folks that have the tenacity to set them up, and I hope that they like doing these since they get 100's and even 1000's of folks knitting something the designer dreamed up. I mean seriously, a bunch of folks waiting with bated breath for Friday to roll around so that they can get a new clue and then blindly knit the clue...such power...

However, there is one knitalong that I joined which did something I really didn't like. The designer claimed that due to the amount of time involved in doing this KAL, that she needed to now charge a fee for the clues to the pattern. Now, it's not the $ that bothers me, there are knitalongs that require a fee, and I'm all for that--if you think you can make money from it, sure, go ahead. I'm just not comfortable with her explanations...she says that there were too many people asking questions about her clue and that folks were emailing her nonstop, she had to take a break from the 2nd clue. Okay, taking time away from the family, I get that. But then she turned around and is now charging for the clues...that just doesn't jive with me. Is getting money going to allow her to spend more time with her family? uhmmm...no. Well, at least now she can say that she's getting something for missing out on personal time. whatever.

But here's the kicker. Here's why I don't think I'll purchase this pattern. She also has a group on Ravelry and folks were posting their disappointments about what they perceived as 'bait & switch' tactics. And true, it was a free KAL, and you get what you pay for, so stop your whinging. But here's the reason I won't be purchasing her pattern... She went and deleted the comments that she didn't like!

Wow. I've not seen that before. This is along the lines of Magknits and the way they closed up shop. Her attitude is that this was 'her house, and she can do as she pleases'. Okay, that's a paraphrase, but the thing about 'her house' is in her note she sent out.

Now, I'm a moderator for a yahoo group, and I have deleted posts, but I will email the poster to let them know why I deleted their post (usually, it's for silly things like that they put too much personal information in a post that goes out to a huge group, or that they're chatting on the board and that's not kosher--yeah, we're strict). But I don't delete because I don't agree with them (and we get some bulldog-types that just...won't...let...a...subject...go. big rolling eyes)

Anyway, my post didn't get deleted (yet), but posts above and below mine were decimated. Ughh...bad taste in mouth, bad taste...

I think that this designer should have thought about what a KAL would entail and talked w/ other designers first about how to run one successfully.

Later, I'll talk about my lovely weekend which started out with a trip to Color: A Fiber Festival today and will hopefully end with meeting up w/ Rav folks at the local library.

And I'll post a picture or two.

Update on the ever growing bunch of lace...

Dragone update:



yes, I'm almost done with the head...and I'm dragging on my dragone...

I also finally looked at the swirl shawl pattern by Jojoland and cast on one component to figure out if I'm willing to knit 80something of these...


Why yes, you cut the yarn so there will be over 160 ends to weave in. The one nice thing is that you pick up the edges so there's no seaming...This is supposed to be done in fingering yarn, but I like the Jojoland Harmony, so that's what I'm using. It's looking a bit flimsy to me (this is US3, of course) so I think I'll increase the size of each of these...I'm looking at Spiral Octagon Shawl from IK as a guide...I need ONE project where it'll be easy to follow once I start and I was really hoping this was it.

Back to tinking and knitting...

Filigree progress

I know I should be working on Dragone, but why when I've got extra lovely Colourmart silk/cashmere in Sangria whispering to me. Saying CAST ON FOR SOMETHING! oh, I guess it's shouting...not whispering. I decided that this gorgeous red cone of delight has to become a Niebling. (It's actually much darker red than pictured--note to self: work on taking better picture).


I was going to make Lyra, but fleegle has such a beautiful red version of it that I decided on Filigree. 'Filigree' is 554/33 aka Burda Special E554 pattern #33 aka Anna 0896/21 (Aug 1996 pattern #21). There might be other names too, but I don't know. Lacefreak is working on this shawl, and her's is in a sweet pink. She calls it Poppy, and I think it's a lovely name. It is related to Goldmohn (Burda #198), I believe that has more chrysanthemum-oaky jagged leaves in the center. And Goldmohn is a monstrocity at 311 rounds while this is a sweet 176 rounds.

Anyway, I had Colourmart double the cobweb weight yarn and am using a US3 needle. I'm finding that for laceweight, that's my standby. I started this project April 5, 2008. Here's the progress picture:



I think it really does need another tier of something...I think I'll do the leaves as is, fill in the in between leaves with hex, and then do a round of flowers or edging to finish it off.

Arnika

I had to put dragone in time out while I figure out if I skipped another stitch--I've already ripped 20 rows of it becuz I can't count.

Anyway, I was itching to for a Niebling fix, and I saw this little sweet doily and said, I'll do that one.

Isn't a nice sweet easy pattern?

A little bit about Arnica--it's a flowering plant that belongs in the sunflower family. Common name is wolf bane. It's used as a tincture for bruises and swelling. Not to be taken internally since it is poisonous. Has also been used as homeopathic medicine. (pic from Wikipedia)


All I can say is that I'm learning more about plants by knitting Niebling patterns than I had ever learned in college.

Anyway, back to the 'easy' pattern. It ended up not being that easy. It's actually quite challenging. There's an error at round 39 where there's an extra stitch unless you knit 3 together instead of 2 (like the pattern says). But the challenging parts?

Petals. Pretty petals. These consist of crossed stitches (that would be mini-cables for you all non-Niebling knitters).

And round 69? You bind off 12 stitches then pick them back up at row 70. How cool is that?! Oh, many thanks to yosemite55 ,Julimond &halfmaennchen from Ravelry for their help in decyphering German. I had babel fished it, but wasn't too sure.

So, here's my finished Arnika:

specs:
start date: March 28, 2008
finish date: March 30, 2008
thread: Cebelia #30
amt used: less than .5 ball
needles: US0 dpns and 0 Hiya Hiya needles

Oh, I should mention this is what I brought to knit on during the Ravelry meetup at the local library. By then, I was just knitting hex mesh, so it was pretty simple. The only modification I made was that I bumped up to US1 needles for the knit edge and then I actually knit 3X into each hex mesh so that I wouldn't get binding.

Back to trying to figure out Dragone...

Happy Easter!

Presenting Miss Dangly

I had everything done but her eyes and thanks to everyone who commented, I went with the eyes close together.

I also made her a little crown and a little tulle skirt. I hope M likes her.



And yes, she is doing the splits.

Go Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

yay! I'm actually working on a green project (albeit light green, but whatever). Heere be Dragone is moving along. I'm now getting a tad tired of the wing stitch. At first, I was paranoid I wouldn't drop the YO (or in my case, drop too many YO), so I would drop the stitch as I went along. A true study in tedium. Okay, then I got lazy and did it the way you're supposed to (which is to drop it on the wrong side). And I'm finally getting into a rhythm for the wings.

You all don't need another picture do you? just imagine another 10 rows. oh, all right.



There's only another 10 rows because I pulled out the blue cobweb silk from Colourmart and am working the pattern earlier seen with the ancient green cash/silk.

ETA: this is blue silk yarn originally purchased for the dragone but was such a pita tha I frogged it. I started the pattern using ancient green dk yarn and it just didn't work (since the green yarn is dk weight). I have switched it to the thin blue...I think I might have too much yarn...

Now, doesn't this look much much better? I think so. I brought this project to the Ravelry knitting group on Sunday. Actually, I cast on and knit this while there.

I decided to go up to US3 for this project because I really like the lacy look of it. And the nice thing is that this is a really easy pattern to remember, I don't have to look at my chart too much (verses Dragone).

Speaking of charts, lookee here:
I went shopping for plastic easter eggs for this weekend and found this at the local dollar store. This is a strip of metal with magnets -- used for kid's lockers to put up photos and such. However, this is perfect for lace charts. Perfect, I say. It's longer than 11.5" so my chart can sit horizontally. I've got a long strip of magnet and this is just so portable! I do still like my other metal sheet, but this one fits into my knitting bag...and did I mention it's portable?! And I got it at the dollar store...so, yep, it was a dollar. And it has no sharp edges 'cause it's made for kids. I've got to go get a couple more (since I've got more than 2 lace projects, you know).

So, again, Happy St. Pat's and go and drink some green beer...or if you're not into beer, go eat something green. (My children get to eat green eggs and ham today.)



Cheers!

WIPs

No worries. I'm cruising on Heere be Dragone. In fact, here's a picture of it:

There's a recent thread on Ravelry asking about the most difficult lace, and this was one of the patterns listed as being difficult. Of course, I'm all like "oh no it's not. pretty simple actually." THEN, I drop a stitch. After my heart started again, I was able to repair it. I'm just thankful I opted not to use the cobweb 100% silk. whew! (oh, as you can see, I'm using BOY for this piece).





Oh, and then there's this:
This is scrumptious DK cashsilk in ancient green from Colourmart. I'm knitting this beautiful shawl with it (variation of a leaf pattern - kind of like kiri, but with a bit more substance) but unfortunately, that thing I always tell other folks to do and didn't do it myself?! yep...didn't swatch with the needles and this pattern is not showing up very well at all. This will be ripped and this pattern will be used with some other lace weight yarn. For this yarn? I think that I'll have to stick to larger needles and a more open pattern. I finally broke down and purchased Evelyn Clark's 'Triangle Shawls' based on recommendations by two people at the lace knitting group at Lacis. I think I'll do a EC triangle with this yarn.

By the way, this is the most lovely yarn. It feels nice to knit with it.

As for Ms. Dangly. I'm working on her outfit now. M's mom is super crafty and will undoubtedly make her additional clothes if M wishes. Will do a mini fashion shoot when done. Speaking of fashion shoots, while knitting last night, I was watching 'Make me a supermodel' (shh) last night and it amazes me that most of these models look like normal people unless you put clothes and make up on them. Then they look amazing. Actually, it seems like the real purty ones all got voted off the show. I find that interesting, don't you?