She Knits By The Seashore

Vintage Crochet

In a previous post, I shared a photo of my great-grandmother's vintage crochet book. Recently I was given some more of her work:

Grapevine square, which matches my dishes, and the two circles below

Pansy circles:

A close up:

A coverlet or bedspread:

A close-up:

Isn't it amazing? They need a good cleaning, but for approximately 50 years old, are in terrific shape.

I don't normally write bullet posts, but have a lot of little thoughts to share, so here goes:

• In my last writing class, people shared their experiences re-writing a short story of Cinderella. I didn't work on this exercise; I'm not much for fairy tales. Our class is on hiatus through Sept, with an assignment to work on a submission for one of the writing contests posted in magazines.

• Last summer, Chris and I helped with a few animal transports. I've been searching for some to participate in, but there haven't been any for cats in a long time. I do want to encourage anyone interested in helping animals get to their forever homes (or safe foster homes) to check out the yahoo group Dogtransportvolunteers. They post the cat transports as well, and are the largest and most widely-known group. Some transports are specific breed rescues, others are for any dog(s) that needs transportation. If you decide to help out, please let me know about your experiences! It was a rewarding experience for us to drive those small distances and help get cats from kill shelters to no-kill shelters, and the transport organizers are very professional and grateful.

• I finished Glory in Death, the second book in the In Death series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). It's a fast, fun read if you like crime suspense, and I am looking forward to seeing Eve Dallas, the detective, marry her millionaire Roarke in the next book, Immortal in Death. I love her wacky best friend Mavis! We all need a Mavis.

• I'm seaming Breton Girl, and am on track to finish by this weekend, my self-imposed deadline. YAY!

Last but not least, I have some paint samples for our front door that I picked up in Cape Cod. I know this is awkward at best, but please feel free to share your opinions. Chris and I are almost decided on a color.

The same swatches, all together

The blues...

I hope whatever your plans are for Labor Day weekend that you have a great time! Next post I'll have some new projects and yarn, and hopefully a finished Breton Girl!

Spun Glass Beaded Ornament

This is another beaded ornament from Lynn Wilson Designs, the Spun Glass Ornament.

 

Pattern: Lynn Wilson Designs, "Spun Glass" Beaded Ornament, H-104. Pattern can be ordered here. (There is no downloadable pdf).

Yarn: Plymouth Gold Rush, in Silver

Needles: Brittany, Size 4 dpns

Beads: Green Glass. Glass Ornament from Joann's.

Notes: This is a fun pattern if you like to knit lace. The knitted pattern has vertical stripes of blocks of four beads, with the psso "knots" in between. [Hint: do not do the first one while watching TV. Or, count your stitches on every row to avoid ripping out psso-s like I did!] The pattern photo shows a beautiful silk ribbon tied in a bow around the ornament cap, but I haven't found pretty ribbons yet, so mine is rather plain.

I have more Christmas show and tell to share soon. Have a happy weekend, and if you are in New England like me, enjoy the SNOW!!!

Elegant Beaded Ornament

On Saturday, I took a four-hour class at my LYS, and learned how to make this beautiful ornament.

The ornament is constructed using dpns, sock-fashion, though one person made it using the Magic Loop technique. You string all of your beads on the yarn first, then knit the ornament "sock," pulling beads up in place as you knit. You put the knitted piece around a glass ball, add any finishing touches, and sew the top and bottom together. The hardest part, for me, was the cast on -- holding the twelve stitches in place without twisting them.

 

The cast on, with beads strung on the yarn. Sorry for the dark photos.

I love the opalescent beads on white combination, but you can do pearl beads on gold yarn, blue beads on silver yarn, red and green beads on white yarn...the combinations are endless depending on your preferences. In class we added a tassel, but my future ornaments will likely be tassel-less.

The little sock taking shape. Yarn is Plymouth Gold Rush.

If you are interested in the pattern, it is Lynn Wilson Designs, Pattern #H-103. She has about 4 or 5 other beaded ornament patterns, including lacy and slip stitch patterns. You may call and order them from here or here.  I hope to purchase some glass ornament balls and different colors of beads, and make a few more of these before Christmas.

I hope you and your families have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Cat's Paw Lace Scarf & Fall Wish List

For the last few months, I've been wanting to make a cat's paw scarf. The paw design in a number of patterns looks more like bear claws to me, though, and despite some mucking around with it, I could never get the look I wanted.

This pattern, free from Crystal Palace Yarns, has a paw I like: the one main circle with the four smaller circles above. It's knit with lace-weight yarn on larger needles for a lacy effect, but it's garter stitch! Multicrafty on Ravelry very generously shared her modifications with me.

  For my nonknitting friends who may be reading, lace is always very loopy and crooked and crumply looking until it is washed and stretched into shape. I can imagine your looking at this and going "um." But it will get better; trust me!

My scarf is knit with Malabrigo Lace. I'm using size 8 needles instead of 10 recommended by the pattern, so the scarf is not making gauge. But if the lace blocks true to form, it will grow to the right size and then some.

In a previous post, I mentioned a Fall Wish List. Here are a few things I'm looking forward to:

1.Jamestown (RI) Classic Bike Race. Two years ago, Chris raced this for the very first time, and it was truly the most glorious day ever...the race is a big loop or two around the island town, with the backdrop of the Newport Bridge and the white sailboats. Everyone not racing comes out to watch, and if the weather is as balmy as it was last time, there's no better way to spend Columbus Day than with hundreds of your best cycling friends.

2)Rhinebeck.

3)Visiting author Edith Wharton's home, The Mount, in Lenox, MA. If you are a Wharton fan or just like beautiful houses & gardens, I urge you to visit before they close for the season on Oct. 31. The museum is under threat of foreclosure unless they raise needed funds by the 31st. Otherwise, they will not open next year. And if you need additional inspiration, Colorful Stitches is right in town!

4) Painting my office, the kitchen, and Yard Work. We played all summer...

5)Fires in the fireplace. I love reading and knitting by the fire most every night when it's cold. My cat Rosie is in seventh heaven, as she likes to bake in front of it too! And then there are the cinnamon and cranberry-scented candles. Mmmm.

6) Knitting: finish Breton Girl and start Fantine. Also, finally make handwarmers, and lots of pretty scarves.

What's on your fall wish list??

Thank you to Madalyn, who nominated me for a blog award. It is so kind of you! The rules ask me for seven nominations, but I am not sure who has been nominated by now and who has not. So please forgive me for taking the easy way out and saying, please consider yourself nominated! There are so many wonderful blogs to read with colorful projects, educational instructions, a friendly voice of encouragement, and most of all, inspiration. It really would be impossible to choose.

Chris and I will be in New Hampshire this weekend, for this and this. I hope you have a relaxing one, however you are spending it!

Lorna's Laces Free & Easy Pie Wedge Shawl

Thanks so much for all your comments on our sunset photos at the beach! I had been knitting 24/7 for about 3 days, staying up late at night to finish (you know how that goes, those of you who are brave enough to attempt holiday knitting). It was a fun way to celebrate finally being done, and having a summer FO!

  click to enlarge

Pattern: Lorna's Laces Free & Easy Pie Wedge Shawl, free on the ball band of...

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace, Tickled Pink

Needles: Susan Bates Crystallites size 8, to keep the yarn from sliding off

Finished Size: approx. 56" x 28" (mine is probably more like 60"x 30")

Modifications: None

Notes: This pattern should be easy [and it is, mostly], given that it's all garter stitch, but some of the details are confusing, and having no printed photo (just a scant diagram) on the ball band doesn't help. Here are some things I wish I'd known when I started:

1. When you begin knitting, right-side facing you, the center of the shawl and point of the wedge is on the left. The knife-edge border forms on the right.

2. Yes, the seams in between the wedges are big garter stitch. They looked funny to me and I ripped out the first one, fearing I'd done something wrong with the short-row instructions, but they are in fact just big garter stitch.

A close up of the garter stitch seam and the knife edges

3. Only count your stitches when you complete row 10 of each knife-edge. To make sure you have the correct number of stitches for the short rows, you should have two more stitches to the left of the marker than where you are on the numbered row. So, if you are on row 32, you should have 34 stitches to the left of the marker, after you turn the work. If you are on row 64, you should have 66 stitches to the left of the marker, when you have turned the work.

4. The cast on edge is different from the bind off edge. Rows 109 & 110, which make the big garter stitch seams in between the wedges, are the last two rows of the shawl. So, one side has the big seam and the other doesn't, leaving the shawl asymmetrical. I bound off as I knitted row 110 [rather than after row 110], to minimize this, but it's still there. If you bind off at row 108, you would lose part of the knife-edge point. So I'm not sure how to get around that!

5. The yarn bled a little when I blocked it, but it wasn't bad. I dried & pinned it on black trash bags, which I removed before Chris took the photos for me.

For those wanting to try lace, this is a great introduction, as it's made with lace weight yarn, but knitted on larger needles than most lace projects. There's no complicated pattern chart to follow, only a few yarn overs in each knife edge (one per row) to keep track of. Because of numbers 2 & 4 above, I'm a little disappointed in the way this turned out; it's not as refined as some of the other patterns I've done. It will look nice, though, tucked inside my w-nt-r coat. This project was definitely all about the yarn and the colorway. :)

Next post: updates on Oceane, a knitting prize, and Charlie...Have a wonderful weekend!

Last Summer Walk Along the Beach

In the spirit of last summer, I finished the pie wedge shawl just in time...

Two Slices Down, Four to Go

It is all pie wedge knitting, all the time. I must finish something before the summer is over!

"Looking better..."

The yarn is on order for Caroline, knit in Riverstone, from Louet. This will be my first fall project. I love the oceany color of the sweater in the ad [in IK and Vogue Knitting]. And did you see this? I want to look through it first before ordering, but the title is very promising!!

(from Amazon)

Sarah and Laura nominated me for the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award. Tough footsteps, or in this case, pedals and knitting needles, to follow in, but thank you!

I'm going to nominate:

• Kristen, who is always taking interesting classes, reading great books, and is an amazing knitter
• Greeley, who is an amazing cyclist and knitter, and
• Julie, who is an amazing guardian of cats (she has 9!) and knitter.

Some of you know that I have a sister cycling blog, She Cycles by the Seashore. I've been posting photos there from some of our recent weekend rides. Please click on over if you are interested in seeing them. The weather and scenery has really been glorious for riding this month.

Lastly, a Charlie update. The test results have come in and Charlie is in need of B12. His levels are really low. Today we went to the vet for the first shot and a training session so that I could give him future shots at home. Me, the needle phobic! It wasn't too bad though. Next week he'll go for his endoscopy so the specialist can get a better idea of what's going on inside, and why he keeps losing weight. Thankfully everything else is ok, kidney, liver, pancreas, and thyroid functions. I am so grateful for the veterinary medicine we have today!! IBD is a really frustrating disease to treat, human or animal, but they can do so much more than they used to for patients.

Have a great week, and happy knitting!

Back to the Needles

This past week the needles came out of the knitting bag again. In the last post before our move, all of my projects had been unknitted in "two rows forward, five back" fashion. Time to start over again.

"This is all you've knitted so far?"

Tim thinks I am not knitting the pie wedge shawl back fast enough.

The Tour de France KAL project, Oceane, doesn't look right to me. The ribbon yarn, substituted for the discontinued Rowan yarn, is very slippery, and the portion I've knitted so far hangs limply from the needles. The lacy pattern seems lost, so I'm debating pulling it out and using the ribbon for some future project. What do you think? It feels like defeat somehow, but I know there are times when pattern and yarn just don't work well together.

Here is the wonderful prize that Beth sent to me. I am especially loving the pink teacup and saucer every afternoon during work. Thank you, Beth!

Some photos from our move:

Timmy waits patiently to be packed

Two giant U-Hauls arrive at the new house, and still not everything fit in them

The boys wonder where they've been taken to!

Investigating the new views

Check out that chipmunk!

28 boxes of books to shelve (post painting)

The library end of the living room (sorry for the dark photo)

The fireplace end of the living room

Happy Weekend!!

A Slice of Shawl

One half of the first of six wedges of the Pie Wedge Shawl is done. I tried to position the needles to show you the wedge as it is taking shape. Pretend the bottom is straight across; the "point" on the left will be the top center of the shawl. When I first started, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how this would work. But now you can see the "saw tooth edges" on the right hand side, and the angle of the wedge where the needles are. Laura sent me some photos of one of her projects so that I could finally visualize how this short row thing works with circular knits -- thank you so much!

I have been remiss in not sharing some beautiful new hand-dyed yarns with you.

Summer Sigh is from Kirsty at Piece of Beauty. I have missed her sea blues and greens, to my regret. Then she posted a photo of the pinks (some with blue, as above), and I was helpless to resist. In addition to the sock yarn, she has silk in the next available selection.  I want the silk Mineral Ocean so much, but I have to be good.

This pink goodness is from Greeley. The tag says "Dream in Color." I have never seen this yarn before but I just love it! Maybe Calorimetry? Must check weight and yardage for that. (I am sorry for the dark photos, but the Blog Photographer and Lighting Expert is working late hours this week, and I'm left to fend for myself with the Cannon). Greeley is a fellow cycling knitter, and I hope you'll forgive me, but I'm going to mention once more her Tour de Cure ride for diabetes and ask you to click on over if you can. Sheepish Annie is doing her local Walk for Life for cancer, and Nancy, The Beekeeper's Granddaughter, is fundraising for her local MS walk too. There's a whole lot of cycling and walking going on, in between all the knitting!! Does this mean we get to have extra dessert?!

Which reminds me...Thursday night Chris and I head to the Big City for orientation, and my last night in a real bed, albeit a hotel one, for GYGIG. I can't believe it's here already!! Friday morning our blog photographer begins his first of three 70 mile rides in the wilds of the Hudson Valley. I, Queen of the Midnight Hours, will have to be functional and at the start line at FIVE AM, to, among other things, pre-ride the route for our fearless riders, removing obstacles, checking for signs, and making sure the Path is Smooth. Thank goodness I get to do this in a car, and will hopefully be pumped up with enough caffeine to feign alertness. At least the asst. ride director is responsible for Reading the Map! The Spokescat will be holding down the fort here at the Seashore, which probably means a big feline party the moment the car leaves the driveway...

Lace and the Spokescat

I've completed two sections of ten rows on the pie wedge shawl. Lace doesn't look so hot pre-blocking, but you can see the steps that form the "saw tooth edges" indicated in the directions, and the diagonal yarnovers (sorry for the blurry photos):

Here is a photo showing the other end of the needle, with the short-row edging that forms the top horizontal edge of the shawl. I still can't quite picture in my mind how this all works out to form the half-circle shape, but I'm going to take it on faith! I had to switch to the plastic crystallite needles, because the metal needle kept sliding out of the stitches.

...And now a word from our Spokescat Charlie...

"Does this come in a water bowl version? I don't know how they expect me to drink out of this."

"Anyway, I am happy to tell you that as of today, we have surpassed our fundraising goal for the Get Your Guts in Gear ride, with a total of $2498! Though we have now met our rider's fee, we welcome donations through the first week in June, and will be pleased to enter you into our final prize drawings the last Friday in May. As always, thank you so very much for all of your support."

["This means he'll stop being cranky for about five seconds." --Timmy]

"This means, among other things, that Timmy and I are definitely sending our people away that weekend, for some of that outdoor living our cat ancestors have endured, while we have the house to ourselves. It will be one of our final times to leave our pawprints on the place, as tonight our people signed a preliminary agreement to sell the house. Thank goodness! I was getting tired of all those strangers coming in and disturbing my nap."

["And I was getting tired of having to follow them around the house, making sure they didn't get into any trouble. None of them took hints about where the treats are kept, or gave me one." --Timmy]

Yes, tonight we signed an offer on our house. Things happened so fast, that even though it's a good thing, I have mixed feelings about it.  The people who want to buy it seem appreciative of the older features, and also have cats; cat people are generally good people. Now to find a new home for us in Seashore East!