Photos: Spider Silk
Spider Silk. I’ll probably switch out some of the photos in the pattern for some of these because I think these show the details of the shawl much better. The fabric is light and airy because it’s knit in a lace weight, but at the same time it’s cushy and soft due to the garter stitch. It’s very simple to knit, since I designed and knit it at a time when everything was kind of crazy, and I just needed something easy to work on. Something that I could pick up and put down without thinking about. So as a more experienced knitter I found it to be great comfort knitting, but for a newer lace knitter it would also be a great introduction to knitting with lace weight yarn.
Photos: Mirror World
A couple months ago, sometime in early March, I found myself with a few free hours, a fried brain, a free dress form, a drawer full of shawls, a camera and a sunny morning. So rather than doing something productive for school I spend the morning photographing shawls.
Some are old, some are new. Some had been photographed before, some hadn’t. Some of the patterns have been published, some are still waiting patiently in the wings. Either way I recently found that folder again, and thought it might be fun to post some of the photos. Because there are so many (200+ initially), and I didn’t want to create a ridiculously overwhelming post, I’m splitting them up by shawl, so each shawl will get it’s chance in the spotlight.
I love Mirror World primarily for it’s stitch pattern, though the yarn, color and shape are all some of my favorites as well. I love how the stitch pattern stacks forming strong vertical lines that juxtapose against the overall crescent of the shawl. I adore how the triangles at times mirror each other to make diamonds and at other times are staggered to nestle between the lines of diamonds. The yarn and color (curiosity on Tosh lace) is simply wonderful, rich and deep, subtle but variegated. While the shape is definitely one of my favorites, elegant and easy to keep in place.
Mittens For Spring
Honestly I thought I’d have more time to devote to, well, everything once the performance was over. Knitting, blogging, sleeping, the important things. But now I’m laughing at myself for even thinking that thought, and with us heading towards the end of the semester alarmingly quickly, I can’t see The Busy stopping anytime soon.
The written portion of the thesis is demanding time and attention at the moment, and funnily enough, it doesn’t get any closer to being finished if I don’t work on it (crazy thought), so it’s been getting lots of love, and a bit of swearing. Seeing as I haven’t perfected knitting and typing at the same time, that means I haven’t been doing much knitting. But I did manage to weave in a couple ends, which mean…
I have mittens!
Just in time for spring. Oh well.
Pattern: my own. It’s just a basic mitten pattern in a 1×1 fair isle check to make the extra cozy, and a Latvian braid around the cuff to keep them from rolling.
Yarn: Classic Elite Ariosa. 1 ball of each color, 90% merino, 10% cashmere, colorway: grey-4814, light blue-4809
Fiber Source: Knitty City (I got the yarn at their sale last summer, so I’m not sure if they still carry it or not)
Needles: US 9s DPNs
Maybe they’ll end up in the back up gift pile.
