Kid Silk Haze Shawl No. 3: Garden Shawl

I am addicted.  Period.  I bought more KSH, this time some rosy corally pink.

I  bought Clara Parkes' The Knitters Book of Wool simply to do Evelyn A. Clark's Prairie Rose Lace Shawl.  The KSH and the Prairie Rose were not a great match for me.  I was OK until row 15, on that row the pattern isn't  bilaterally symmetrical (doesn't mirror itself) on either side of the spine. (Sorry about the anatomical terms but if you knit lace you'll understand).  With the KSH, I can't read the lace well, as it is so fine and the halo/haze gets in the way.

So I switched to another of Evelyn's confections, this one the Garden Shawl from her book Knitting Lace Triangles.  I really love this little book and it has helped me to understand lace triangle construction. 

So far, so good.  I can read the lace.

A couple of years ago I bought some small mulberry trees, hoping to someday have a large grove with which to feed some silk worms.  No, I don't yet have them, mostly because the tree that I put in the ground hasnt done so well;  something may be eating it.  The one still in a large pot does better.  Son B did an artful photo of a mulberry leaf...maybe someday I'll have those silkworms.

Phoebe Snow passed away this week;  life is short:  enjoy it!

Spring Joy

I love the Easter holiday with its old Pagan symbols, especially the Easter eggs.

Last year I had the time to knit some.  I found this pattern at Ravelry and knit them up, stuffing them with plastic eggs, which COULD hold some smaller chocolate eggs.  

There are a lot more knitted Easter egg patterns up at Ravelry than last year.

I treated myself to some Royal Copenhagen porcelain eggs this year, found at Amazon.

As mentioned previously, I've had a hard time getting iris to bloom in my yard, it's either the warm climate or bad soil or both.  Last year I had an idea and transplanted some Caesar's Brother into some enriched soil in a pot.  I got rewarded for my efforts this year:

I'm now going to enjoy the miracles of spring and hoe the garden.

Lilac Leaf kidsilk Haze

It is done.  Nancy Bush's Lilac Leaf Shawl, from that most cherished Knitted Lace of Estonia.

Mette kinda guessed that it was Estonian...the nupps gave it away.  I used a contrasting oaky kinda color for the border to offset the very very pale ballet pink.

Wish I knew why I love knitting this type of lace the most.  Won't someone please lead another knitter's tour to Estonia one of these years??  Nancy??

Here is Rowan's latest lineup of Kidsilk Haze Colors

Vintage WWII Hat, Bonnet Drama Notes, Thoughts on a Ditch Iris

I  like to knit from vintage patterns, and have a bit of a collection from when I frequented garage sales and flea markets.  That's a hobby that I will have to rediscover after I retire.

My friend Bob had this nice hat FO on Ravelry, his "World War II Cap."  The pattern is from a Bucilla book from 1940, which someone whose website is here kindly transcribed for all. Here's my version, I confess, in Vanna's Choice from Michael's

As son R and son B are heading out for summer adventures in northern climes this summer, I am trying to finish new hats for them, and this looked like it would do the trick for R, who asked for a "beanie."  Now, I don't think of a beanie as warm hat, but that's what this is called.

And on a completely different, subject...like... where have I been?  It took this article reprinted in a local paper for me to learn that what I am addicted to is the "bonnet drama"...I guess I'm more of a  Janeite than a Charlottan...nevertheless, bring on the Bronte....

on this general subject, do try this, you won't regret it

I've not embedded a video before so if it doesn't work try this link.You may also like this,  made me roll with laughter, but be warned, there is language content if you are sensitive to that sort of thing...unhappily, "Jane Austen's Fight Club" video has been removed from youtube.  It was also rip roaring fun.

 indeed, you may wish purchase your own Jane Austen Action Figure

I have had lousy luck growing irises here in SC.  It's been 5 years in this house, and the only regular repeat bloomer is what a former coworker called a "Ditch Iris," in other words, one that you dig up from a ditch.  

My sister called me several years ago and said "there are irises by the side of the road 10 markers from the hospital (where I was working at the time)".  I loaded a shovel in the back of the Honda and started counting markers.  No, it was no one's identifiable property.  I stopped and hastily dug some up.  Wild iris?  Formerly cultivated? 
 

PLEASE let me know if you do.  

Dinner last weekend:  saffron risotto, tomatos, basil, local shrimp