Back to the Shrug!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled knitting! After a nice entrelac break, it's back to the shrug, and it's now blocking. Once it's dry I just have to sew the sleeve seams and then knit a ribbed band around the front opening. I'd say it's just in time for spring, but considering it's snowing today, maybe it'll actually be a little early! ;-)


p.s. Happy 3rd birthday to my kitty, Casper! :-)

Spring Flowers

It's a beautiful and sunny day, so I'm sharing some pretty flowers with you. :-)



Entrelac Sneak Peek

When I went to WEBS on Saturday for my "Exploring Entrelac" class, I had the intention of buying some nice multicolored yarn to use on an entrelac cowl. I'm making the pattern featured in Rosemary Drysdale's book. I found some amazing discounted yarn in WEBS' warehouse in the back of the store: Noro Silk Garden (in a discontinued color, hence the discount...otherwise it would have cost about twice as much). It's a rustic-looking silk/kid mohair/ lamb's wool blend that gradually changes between several beautiful colors. Here's what a plain knit-up swatch would look like in the color I chose:


My entrelac skills are pretty solid now, and I can knit along merrily without having to refer to the pattern at this point. It looks really amazing knit up with this yarn! Here's a sneak peek at my upcoming cowl...

I have several cardigans that match the colors in this yarn... Yay for an accessory I'll be able to match with lots of things!

I think the way the colors fleck and blend makes it look like a wearable oil painting. :-)

Exploring Entrelac

On Saturday I trekked over to WEBS Yarn Store in Northampton, MA to take a knitting class: "Exploring Entrelac" with Rosemary Drysdale, author of the new book Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting. The class was fantastic! It was totally sold out, with 25 students anxious to learn with Rosemary. Her book is great, and shows the step-by-step process to making entrelac. Entrelac has a very distinctive basket-woven kind of look, and it's a great skill to have in your knitting repertoire.

Rosemary brought all of her sample swatches featured in the book so we could see them up close, along with a few of the garments that are among the book's patterns. She even had the lovely bit of colorful knitting on the cover of the book. After the class she had a book signing and a reception with lots of yummy treats and wine. A perfect afternoon! :-)



Here's my own swatch I knit in class, both in progress, and the finished product.



I can't wait to make an actual project using this fun technique! I bought some fun multicolored yarn at WEBS that I plan to make an entrelac cowl out of. I'm still working on the shrug, but once I finish the first sleeve I'll take a brief hiatus to make the cowl. I want to get as much use out of it as possible before it's too warm out to wear it!

Knit-spiration

Pardon the lame title of this blog, but that's what Vogue Knitting's new Spring issue created in me! Here are some of my personal favorites... There are more that I love in the magazine, of course, but this post could become really long if I put them all here!


Lots of beautiful detail in this tunic



I'm not really a poncho kind of girl (or am I??) but this lacy beach cover-up is stunning!
This one looks a teeeeny bit easier than the others... only ranked "intermediate" skill level, compared to the "advanced" of the tunic and the blue cardi

The View From Above

This past weekend I had the opportunity to do something I haven't done in a very long time... fly! When I was a young teen I took flying lessons, and I loved it. I would do extra chores to save money for my next lesson, and keep track of it in a ledger I decorated with cutouts of planes from magazines. I usually flew a Cessna 152 (single propeller two-seater), and one time flew a Cessna 172 (single propeller four-seater) so my dad (and uncle, I think?) could come along for the ride.

This time around I got to fly a Robinson R-22 helicopter. Flight schools often give good deals for half-hour intro flights, so if this is something you would find fun, give it a shot! I love being able to take the controls. And you just can't beat the view!



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