Lace Border Shrug

Finally I got this shrug done! And I have to say I did a good job! It stinks to praise yourself but this one was a tough one. I got this yarn from Germany from a sheep sanctuary Naturwerkstatt Zopfy and they sell this special yarn which is not chemically treated.
I have had the yarn since February and all the projects I started I did not finish. The yarn felt not right and my knitting looked bad. Then when Easter came around I thought I would try to dye the yarn with my left over egg dye and then the miracle happened! The contact with water turned this yarn into a beauty and my gauge turned into a nice piece of knitting. The yarn dried extremely fast and I could tell the difference between treated and untreated yarn.
Now all I have to do is to write down the pattern and ship it off to Germany with lots of good wishes for many sales! So the sheep will have a good life and can produce more of their wonderful wool. Without these friends we knitters would be quite empty handed!

Skacel Lacy Cables

Last fall I designed this sweater for Skacel Yarns. They make great knitting needles as well!
I learned a lot while knitting this sample piece. It is knitted all in the round and there are no good areas to start a new ball because I like to hide the ends in the side seams. So what to do? That's when I came up with my best way ever to connect a new ball:
split both yarn ends in half, which means when the yarn consists of 6 plys you split it so you have 3 plys on each half. Do the same with the new ball. Then combine one half of the new ball with one half of your working yarn. Knit about 5 stitches with the "new" yarn, then continue to knit with the all new ball. When weaving the ends in you can split the ends to single plys and weave the ends in a star shape.
I wished I had taken pictures......This method works great for all yarns and makes the least visible change.


http://www.skacelknitting.com/s.nl;jsessionid=0a010c551f43699d060649d04e5d97d1aef819872477.e3eSc38RbhuLe34Pa38Ta38Nbx10?it=A&id=7265

LACE WEDDING SHAWL

If someone asked me what my favorite yarn is I would probably say Kidsilk Haze by Rowan http://www.knitrowan.com/yarns/kidsilk-haze.aspx .This yarn is so incredible to work with and although it is expensive (about $15 per ball) with only one ball you could make a shawl like this one!

It measures 10" X 52" and there are many ways to wear it. 

I have made this one for my neighbor Barb whose daughter is getting married this month. Of course I picked a discontinued color (nightly) and I had to investigate to find more yarn on the internet. I ended up ordering three balls at Purls http://www.purlsoho.com/purl

mostly because I thought it would be cool to receive a package from NY! I want this shawl to be wider so I will add on to the sides. Then there would be two options to make it: a lazier version with only one ball and if a wider scarf is desired and patience is not running low this would be the second version which I am currently working on.