I owe this blog a whole lot of posts. But let’s start off with a simple and slouchy hat that I designed while I was sitting in my car for over 90 minutes, waiting to cross the border into the US to attend the Earthues Natural Dye Studio workshops in Ballard, Seattle, WA. A lovely clover lace pattern is the basis for this slouchy beret-style hat. Its easy-to-memorize lace pattern makes for a very simple and elegant one-skein gift. Since that day in July, I’ve made four of these hats in different yarns and colours and tested different sizes and gauges. I like this result the best:

Knit it up in a luxurious and drapey Merino Silk Aran or a lush and cushy Superwash Worsted yarn. I love how the lace is gentle and uncomplicated. It decreases seamlessly at the crown to form a beret-type shape. The simple pattern lets you add repeats if you like to make a slouchier hat.

The 2-page PDF pattern includes both charted and written directions. And it’s available via Ravelry or the shop site. And it’s free. My gift to you this crisp fall morning. Keep your head warm.

When I first decided to move into the studio at the Watershed Building, I remembered thinking, “it’s so wonderful, there’s a little garden in the courtyard where you can go knit in the afternoons… and there’s a rooftop garden where you can see the entire city… ohh, I’ll definitely be spending time there…” After all these months of working at the studio, I’ve had very little time or cause to actually wander around the courtyard garden, but yesterday, I had a lovely visit from Sivia Harding and we had good cause to visit the garden. She brought me her Phoenix Rising shawl (also here on Ravelry) that she knit up in my CashSilk Lace yarn (Boysenberry, for those who want to know) and I got to hold it for photos!

I was immediately smitten with the top portion of the lace. The wandering lines snaking back and forth down the shawl until you reach the weighty, beaded edging. Sivia is well-known for her exquisite and unique beaded lace designs and while this gorgeous shawl pattern was only available previously through the 2008 Year of Lace club, it is now available through Sivia’s website. She explained that this Phoenix Rising redux includes new beading instructions as well as a new lace edging. I was just looking at it, thinking, “I’m so honoured to be wearing this amazing shawl … on my first day in the courtyard garden, no less.”

Back in January, I had the delight and pleasure of meeting Miriam Felton, designer of the lovely Icarus shawl from Interweave. She told me that after TNNA she was going to embark on turning her knit design endeavours into her full time livelihood. I was so inspired and encouraged to hear this and wished her well. So when I got back from TNNA, I pinged her on Ravelry and said that I’d like to send her some yarn… see if she’d like something to play with. I ended up sending her a few skeins of CashSilk Lace and she ended up making this…

It’s called the Nefertiti Wrap and takes about 2 skeins of CashSilk Lace. I do love the diagonal design to it… and also how it’s not a single lace pattern throughout. One lace patterns flows and melds into the next. Very very lovely.

I’m thinking about Nefertiti this afternoon as I collect my things and thoughts, on my way to speaking tonight for the Coquitlam Weavers & Spinners Guild. Public speaking always makes me intensely nervous, so I hope I don’t lose my voice, insult anyone, or make any other major gaffs… I’ll be talking about natural dyeing among other things. We’re starting at about 7 pm at Place des Arts. Fingers crossed that everything goes well. Yay.

My scarf pooled a bit in some sections and not in other sections… but it was fascinating to keep knitting and seeing where the pooling might happen. Of course, you can bypass the drama by using a semi-solid or totally solid colour.

Since it’s super easy and super nice, I’ve done it up in a snazzy PDF plus handy lace chart for your enjoyment. Should you have a need for easy, but interesting lace…

Check out the CashSilk Fern pattern »

The Diamond Fantasy Shawl is done and blocked. Knit out of the Silk Lamb Lace yarn, I followed Sivia’s instructions to the letter — the shawl is 10 repeats with the icord edging. The perfect size. Divine and soft, I love it. If you are in Vancouver and want to see it up close and personal, it’s actually at the [three bags full](http://www.threebagsfull.ca) shop right now. I’ll probably leave it there for a couple weeks… and I doubt I’ll need to wear it anytime soon!

When we weren’t indoors, this is what we got to see:

And this is what we did each evening after dinner:

Jen is borrowing my Ashford Joy wheel indefinitely and so we were both spinning and chatting until late each night. A perfect way to relax after all that work — and I managed to get more of my Gotland spun up. Relaxing AND productive. No better combination.

As for the angst, see this lovely new 50/50 silk/wool laceweight yarn that I dyed?

Well, I can’t decide if I like it as the Diamond Fantasy Shawl or as the Kiri Shawl. Ridiculous, no? I started knitting each shawl from either end of the same ball of yarn… I’ll let you know which shawl wins out… when I decide.

Last May, I bought 1/2 lb of [Ashland Bay merino roving](http://blog.sweetgeorgiayarns.com/2005/05/roving_roving_roving/) from Penelope Fibre. It sat in the stash for a few weeks because I was intimidated by it and worried that I might ruin it. I sucked up the courage to start [spinning it laceweight](http://blog.sweetgeorgiayarns.com/2005/06/new_projects/). Finally, in January, I finished all the spinning and started knitting the [Lotus Blossom Shawl](http://blog.sweetgeorgiayarns.com/2006/01/light_at_the_end_of_the_tunnel/).

This is my real first, large-scale handspun and handknit project… and here it is off the needles:

####Lotus Blossom Shawl
* Pattern: from [Fiddlesticks Knitting](http://www.fiddlesticksknitting.com/LotusLarge.html), designed by Dorothy Siemens
* Yarn: Handspun Laceweight Merino (I have about half of my spinning leftover! So I must have used about 100 g)
* Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm Addi Turbos
* Changes: I used a smaller needle size just because I didn’t have any other needles handy, so I had to knit chart 2 twice to give the shawl extra length
* Finished Measurements: 70″ x 35″ (definitely smaller than the pattern specs, just slightly bigger than my blocking board).

What are things that people always say about spinning laceweight… the singles need lots of twist to hold the finer diameter, take _all_ the tension off so that you can get lots of twist in, blah blah blah. This handspun is irregular in grist because I spun it over such a long period of time, was still getting a hang of spinning fine and also because I switched wheels part way through! But in some places, I think the yarn had so much twist that it became wirey and dense. If I were to do it again, I would spin it all a little softer.

This leads me to sampling. What a good idea. It’s like knitting a gauge swatch (which we _always_ do, right?!). How does the fabric feel knit at that tension with those needles. How about going up a needle size, going down a size? Is the fabric too dense? Too drapey? When your knitting with commercial yarns, the yarn itself is taken out of the equation — it’s your job to just pick the most appropriate needle size for that yarn (ok, I’m oversimplifying). But when you are _making_ the yarn, you need to look at how _your_ yarn works up as fabric and if it is appropriate — will it be hardwearing? Will it pill or fuzz? All those variables are under your control now. So, spin a little bit, knit a little bit. See if you like it.

That’s what I’ve done with this new project:

There’s about 2 oz of Cashmere/Silk 50/50 top that I bought from Deep Color Studio this past November… Again, nervous about spinning it up and ruining it. So I tore off a little piece and spun it up laceweight using my new highspeed bobbins and whorl (I’m using 19.5:1 for spinning singles “from the fold” and 17.5:1 for plying). I washed the yarn and have started knitting it up in Evelyn Clark’s “Trellis Scarf” pattern from the Spring IK magazine. I figured if I liked it, I could keep going. If I didn’t like it, I could just go back and modify how I’m spinning it. As it turns out, I like it.

After a clumsy crochet cast off, there was a quick soak in some Lavender-scented Eucalan and then lots of pinning onto the blocking board. I used my make-shift blocking wires for the top line of the shawl. The individual loops at the bottom edge of the shawl had to be pinned out individually. I was not a perfectionist here. Alas, as much as I love my blocking board, it’s not big enough for shawls. I have three towels placed at the edges of the board in a sad attempt to extend the area.

Peacock Feathers Shawl:

As mentioned by many, many knitters before, Fiddlesticks patterns have large, clear charts and very well-written directions. The crochet cast off was easy with Dorothy’s inclusion of a step-by-step photo instruction page.

The only one time I really goofed was when I brought my shawl with me to dinner but forgot the chart up in my office… I attempted to engage in dinner conversation while knitting and also trying to channel Dorothy Siemens… hoping that I would be able to figure out some of the non-repeating portion of the pattern just by looking at it. Well, I guess I’m not that “sensitive”, so I have one goofy plume.

I have three more rows to knit on the Peacock Feathers Shawl.

Over the past week, I was able to squeeze in the shawl by multitasking… knit while I generate big PDFs, knit while I wait for stuff to finishing uploading, knit while doing my bridesmaidly duties for Jo…

But more importantly than multitasking, is well… not multitasking. One project at a time. One thing at a time. This shawl has gone so quickly because I focused all my attention on it. Might be something to keep in mind next time I want to cast on for something new in the midst of all these unfinished projects.

I leave you with a photo of something I’ll post about… when I dig myself out of this pile of work.

… the end of Chart 6 and the start of some peacock tail feathers.