I don't need another lace shawl...but this just *fell* off the needles. It's the Lucca Shawl, designed by Jared Flood, in Brooklyn Tweed's Vale. The color is "Barberry." I bought 4 skeins, intending to make a lightweight wool tank out of it, but after swatching, I realized I wouldn't have enough yarn.

Then some unexpected travel came up, and I didn't have any travel knitting. A quick browse through Ravelry told me that I could knit the large version of this shawl with the number of skeins I had, so out came the needles. I was able to get the fiddly bit of the cast on done before hitting the road, and this shawl kept me company through the whole week that I was traveling.

I wanted to get it finished before I went to YarnFest in April, but only managed to get the body of the shawl finished before leaving - there was still the border left to do. That bit dragged on for several weeks - at one point it felt like I must be almost finished, but every time I counted I was only 2/3 of the way through. As these things go. 

The interesting thing about this pattern is that there is a small size and a large size - and the only difference is the gauge. The small size is knitted on 3 mm (US size 2.5) needles, and the large is knitted on 4.5 mm (US size 7) needles. Looking at the yarn, I felt like the 4.5 mm needles would be ridiculous, and scaled back to a size 4 mm (US size 6). This ended up using just shy of 3 skeins of yarn, and makes me sneakily suspicious that the "large" size was engineered to sell an additional skein of yarn. Regardless, I enjoyed working with the yarn immensely, as I always do with Brooklyn Tweed. 

I took the extra skein and overdyed it - but that's a different post entirely. 

Ravelry project page here.

xx,

​Pamela

So much bouncing around in my head this week! Here's just a little bit of it:

Do you have royal baby fever? Every time Will and Kate stand on those steps holding a new bundle of joy, I wonder about where the knitwear came from. Here's the answer.

Knitting as sculpture. 

This is an interesting advance in knitting machine technology. And there's a lot at stake in terms of environmental and human impact...lots to ponder on this one.

It all comes down to twist. 

Tailor for the stars - literally. 

I've also read about weavers in Nordic countries using snow to bleach linen. And watching the processes in prepping and weaving the fabric in this video from Ojiya, Japan was interesting, too.

Another month, another opportunity to say, "Last month went by so fast," and to say that everything's still in progress!

I did know April was going to be busy, and somehow I've already overloaded myself for May, too. Good in some ways, and not so good in others. I'll be taking a dye workshop with one of my guild members, and then traipsing over to Boulder for a week of workshops with Elizabeth Johnston and Martha Owen ... leaving not so much time for turning WIPs into FOs. 

Knitting

• Pictured above, my main knitting goal for May is to finish my Lucca shawl. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the border, and every time I count, it seems like I still have the same number of "teeth" in the edging. There's a reason why most traditional lace knitters do the edging first - it takes forever, and it's a pain to turn every row when the knitting is as huge as it is now...
• I'm sort of itching to cast on this hat with some handspun...but so far, I've managed to restrain myself.
• One of my Yarn Fest classes was Shetland lace knitting with Elizabeth Johnston. In it, we started a scarf - so once I finish Lucca, it will be on to that one.
• And, of course, the stashbuster sweater is still on the needles. I'm thinking I'll take that one to Boulder with me. 

Spinning

• There's lots of plying to do! I've managed to ply quite a bit, but there's always more. 
• I'm wanting to weave an al-plaid-ca ruana. Sorry, I just couldn't help the pun. Anyways, it uses all natural alpaca colors, and I've spun up all the alpaca that's in my stash and am just waiting for the supplemental colors to come in the mail. Then it will be spinning (and more plying).

Weaving

• I'm still not finished warping the floor loom and starting to think I bit off more than I could chew. Whoops. Someday I'll get this thing going for real.
• I'm taking a couple of dye workshops and need to wind warps for those. I haven't painted a warp before, so this will be something new. 

What are you working on this month?

xx,

​Pamela

Currently, I'm having a blast (and spending all my money) at Interweave Yarn Fest. I love coming, and seeing all there is to see...and it certainly doesn't help my to-do list!

Recently, I saw a post on Facebook where a weaver mentioned she might make temari balls with her loom waste. An interesting idea, which led me down a rabbit hole to these beauties.

Speaking of rabbit holes, I fell down hard for DIY furniture plans, especially Ana White's.  Just like in my wardrobe and fiber arts, I have very specific ideas for what I want out of furniture, and rarely find it. Lately I've been jonesing for a new weaving bench (the one I'm using is older than me and falling apart), but nothing seems quite right. Naturally that means I have to build one, right?

I just finished reading The Curated Closet. Lately, I've had that "nothing to wear" feeling a lot...so this was the perfect read for me. I'm slowly working my way back through the exercises, hoping to have a truly curated closet by fall. 

This would explain why I get grumpy when I don't get to play with yarn "enough." 
​
I found this article a while back, and found it really interesting. Basically, it turns shapes into knitting patterns for knitting machines....and I think there's so much more a good designer could do with it.

I was fascinated by this video. So much artistry.
​
Clearly an April Fool's joke, but I found it quite amusing. 

And lastly, Merino sheep are helping us learn what causes curly hair.