Koigu PPPM Addiction

It's easier to come up with a great descriptive name for a yarn with a three word title for its addictive properties, e.g. "crack silk haze."  I'm trying to come up with one for koigu KPPPM...let me know if you have any suggestions.

So here's another:  the Oyster Bay Shawl by Lori Law.

For this type of lace I like a pattern with some regular knit 2 togethers/kps's and yarn overs to create kind of a scallop-y look.

Two shades of KPPPM.  And some little pyrex teardrop shaped beads for the border from my LBS (local bead store), High Tide Beads.

Prior to the edge I did a row of eyelets with just k2tog and yo, and then I came up with my own edge as the repeat had an even number of stitches, *yo, k1, yo, k2, skp, k2tog, k2* and purl wrong side rows...there was a visible strand between the skp and the k2tog which I liked.

Isn't orange grand?

(Not sure what this is, it was supposed to be an autumn bloomer, didn't do much, lived through the warm winter and now it's got it's energy.  This is only one stalk of this large plant.)

Quilting

Meanwhile, there has been some unusual activity here...

I have pieced and hand quilted one or two quilts in my day.  Several years ago I undertook piecing a quilt top for a son and it's been sitting around.  I finally finished putting the blocks together (10" blocks from Keepsake Quilting, no cutting required) and got a quilting frame for Christmas...the trickiest part was the layering bit.

  They actually make quilt batting now from recycled soda bottles...who knew?  (I do, now...) and it seems to be just fine for stitching. I have quilted one block and must persist...


In the meantime, a lovely walking iris (neomarica gracilis) blooming in the garden

The best weekend and a great result

I finished this beautiful Elsebeth Lavold pattern called "Corinne" last fall. I love love love the pattern.  It combines my absolute favorite knitting...lace...with making a garment which is perhaps a lesser favorite. I used her yarn Hempathy, perfect for the warm climate that I live in. I happily finished it and tried it on…no fit no way.  Ouch. (I may have put on a couple of pounds since starting it).

Having leftover yarn, I was planning on frogging and starting over but tossed it into the stash before embarking on that painful chore.

Last week, my girlfriends friends L and S came to visit. We had been stash diving as we were having a knitting/jewelry making intensive weekend. I located the sweater in the yarn mess in my steamer trunk  (yes, I need an intervention for this...)

I pulled out the finished garment, then just by chance looked up at L, who is about my height but slimmer compared to myself. Corinne in hand, I held it up…it was a match made in heaven. Looked potentially beautiful, S then went to her suitcase and pulled out a perfect lightweight tank for L. She tried it on and lo and behold…made for her!

I love this pattern…I will do this again only larger…and I will knit it in the round to avoid those pesky purl rows, and I will do it in white as the green looks much better on L than on me!

Here are some other delights from the weekend

Flower salad (chive and johnny jump-ups, the calendula bloomed 5 days too late to add)

Beach walk

Kayaking

Wildflower photography (specifically Shepherd's Needle and Trumpet Flower)

Birdwatching
(this lady was spotted by S outside son R's window)

Observation of flying squirrels

A finished necklace with a shell from the Mediterranean from last year's trip...

We had a grand time.

FO: Garden Shawl

Yay!

I finished my garden shawl which I had started two summers ago...

a small shoulder shawl in lovely kidsilk haze. It looks orange here but it's really hot pink. I've not blocked it, I like it scrunchy, but that could change!

This pattern is from Evelyn E Clarks Knitting Lace Triangles, of which I snatched up one the of remaining print copies a couple of years ago;  Evelyn has now reissued it with several new patterns and edgings...I would recommend it!

Rogue

done!  Soft and love it.  The extra band at the bottom to add length was an unusual stroke of genius, if I may....

Perfecting Rogue

I have knit Rogue before with poor success.  See here.

Trying again and WILL succeed.

I thought it was done, tried it on. Hem was not tidy, and it was also too short.

Pondered for a bit.  I know what it's like to finish a sweater then never wear it because it just doesn't work. So I'm willing to do more...

The aha moment:  knit a cabled border...thanks to Elsebeth Lavold ...this is the cable from  Hild

Almost done...

V is for...low knitting needle knitting content and origami valentines

Well, yeah we all know what "holiday" is  this upcoming week, but there are two V's that I'm thinking about lately.  The first one is Viking knit weave.  This is a jewelry technique possible done by the REAL vikings and which is basically a way of doing  what one might call an cord...in metal.

I have  a thing about green bracelets on my left wrist.  Love green and shiny things. Being a window shopper at etsy (the pun just came out, sorry) I saw a viking knit weave bracelet.  Didn't purchase (go me!). 

However, I did a little more googling and found a youtube video on how to do it. The video had been provided by a wise jewelry company complete with a supply list from their store!  Well, I had to try this.  I ordered the equipment that I didn't have. Here's the result (done in 26 gauge Artistic Wire) and another work in progress

Here's the how-to video

I adapted the project a bit but oh is this fun. There will be more! I've been trying knitting with various types of wire this year none of which had really worked terribly well except for this.  I am continuing to fiddle, however.

The second V is indeed for valentine.  Here is my favorite valentine, origami-style, a few of which I made and sent this week. 

Here are directions on youtube (thanks to Francis)