Birthdays, Plants and Swallowtail Shawl

Today was Hubby's birthday #44, which sure impressed the kids. It might as well be 144 where they are concerned! lol You would think it was a national holiday the way they have been excited! Besides a couple books and music that he likes, I got him some long sleeve shirts from LL Bean where I could get them long enough for his LONG arms! I also got him a non-pill fleece vest for our trip to Alaska along with a small first aid kit, bear bell and other survival essentials to carry in the pack when we are photographing in Alaska, Lord willing this summer.

I apologize for the lousy pictures. I am still working on learning how to resize in PS Elements 6. Actually I know how to resize, however, I just haven't figured out what will give a clear image in a small size. Anyway, we were at Costco and tried to get one of Hubby's favorites, Gummi Bears, but they were out or don't carry them, so the kids got him a box of his favorite candy bar. Poor guy has been eating whole wheat everything and has been quite a trooper so I can't begrudge him a treat every once in awhile. Hopefully this box will last awhile.

Yesterday after church we went out for Mexican food, which is Hubby's and my favorite, however it wasn't very good. So tonight we had another birthday meal... we grilled NY steaks (should I tell my friends who are buried in snow that we grilled outside in shirt sleeves?!) and I made roast potatoes. Dessert was hot fudge sundae cake, but I won't be sharing that recipe on Wellness Wednesday any time soon! This was actually the first time since Christmas that we used white flour and white sugar. (And we haven't really missed it!)

This is A, D and J with our current school project. We are studying about plants for science this spring. These are the seeds we planted on Thursday. On the left are 20 peat pots with mixed annual seeds. On the right, 6 Hollyhocks have come up and in the middle we have no progress on our Columbine or Foxglove. We also have some sunflower seeds beginning to root. We are all having fun with this project.

Last but not least, this is my progress on the Swallowtail shawl. I don't think you can tell in this photo but after the light blue and raspberry there is a bit of brown before it goes to green. I was pretty apprehensive about this as brown is NOT one of the colors I like much. But I decided to be brave and leave it in.. The yarn goes from the green back to brown, raspberry and then into the blues, grays etc again, before going back to the brown, raspberry and green. I am halfway the first chart of bobbles. This is the slowest I've knit on a Swallowtail shawl, but that's because I have had lots of distractions.

CA Project Along

On the Christian Artisans list, we started a Project Along on February 18th. Most are knitting but some are doing crochet, weaving, spinning, sewing and other projects. The color in this first photo isn't exactly accurate. The purple is more of a warm violet rather than a cool lavender. Last night I started the Swallowtail Shawl. I think this is my 4th one! I had found this ball of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn and didn't really want to do socks in a single yarn, so thought maybe I'd do a shawl or scarf where you could really see the color way work out. It's fun to knit because you are waiting to see what the next color will do!

Here is a close up of the yarn. This is a little bluer/cool toned than the actually yarn which looks purpleier (sp?!) and a little more pink/violet than lavender. However, the burgandy and acid green in the center of the skein are closer to accurate color. Like regular Kureyon, it's kind of a rough yarn, but I'm hoping that it will also wash up soft. When I felted with Kureyon, I could not believe that the soft finished product came from the rough beginning. This is semi-mindless knitting, since I've done it several times before, so I am working on this when my brain is too tired for the butterfly lace.

Getting Back to Knitting

It has been a really long time since I have done any "real" knitting. Part of that has been a bump in the road in my grief journey. Since I knit lace shawls as a prayer shawl ministry, they sometimes go to people who die. Two people receiving one of my shawls died of Ovarian Cancer and this is all interlaced with my own grief and loss journey. Intellectually it doesn't make sense, even to me, but emotionally knitting has been intertwined with death. For several months now my knitting has not held either pleasure or comfort for me and lately I have been just too sick and/or exhausted.

Today however, I made a decision to pick up the Butterfly Shawl and begin knitting. It felt good and as I watched Becoming Jane I knit 5.5 rows on the Butterfly Shawl that I am test knitting for Carissa. That doesn't sound like a lot of knitting, but consider that this is the bottom of the shawl and has over 350 stitches as well as some of the rows being patterned on both sides. In a few more rows I'll be done with the beautiful butterfly border and it will begin decreasing! Yeah! At that point it should progress much more quickly.

As for Becoming Jane, it was enjoyable to watch, but I thought it fell short of its potential. When the movie starts you feel like you have dropped into the middle of something and some of the plot is poorly developed. A great disappointment to me as a photographer was that there was so much potential for the cinematography that was never realized. Still I would reocmmend any Jane lovers see it. It is an interesting glimpse into Jane Austin's life and how fun to have Anne Hathaway play her part after having written her senior English thesis on Jane at Vassar. And I must say I have the best Hubby of all. He watched it with me because he knew how much I wanted to see it and how much I enjoy just being with him, so he gave me that gift of time! Thanks Honey!

For Your Temptation...

My friend Kimberly has tempted me with some of the love shawl and stole patterns at this Knitting Delight, so if you are looking for a last minute gift idea, you might check here!

Yes, I Still Knit! (The Butterfly Shawl)

With all my food related posts lately and pics of the kids, I bet you thought I had given up knitting! Well, I have not been doing a lot of knitting as we are still adjusting to home school schedules and I have been doing more spindling.

This is my gauge swatch of the smallest butterfly on the Butterfly Shawl that I am testing knitting for my Christian Artisans friend, Carissa. This swatch does not do justice to the beautiful shawl. It is a Faroese style, garter stitch shawl knit from the bottom up. There is a band of butterflies on the bottom which I am currently knitting and the middle strip up the center back has butterflies in graduated sizes. The swatch is the smallest butterfly which Carissa said is her least favorite! :o) I chose that one because it was the right size for getting gauge. I can't wait to see this all done and I plan on knitting one for myself later from some fingering weight Alpaca that I have.

This is knit in Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/18 wool/silk in the Elderberry color, using size 5 Addi Lace Turbos. I probably won't have any real good pictures to show until it is done....you know how lace is. It unfolds it's beauty at the end and especially after blocking.

Clue 3 Finished and a Prayer Request

This is just loosely stretched enough to take the photo. I think mine is going to be bigger than the pattern calls for but that is okay because so am I! LOL Actually I am not sure whether or not I will keep this for myself or give it to someone in my shawl ministry. I may wait and see when it is done. Usually when I pick out a pattern for someone in the shawl ministry, I see something that "just fits" their personality or style. That is why I am uncertain because it hasn't "struck" me yet!

I thought Clue 3 was the easiest so far. I am looking forward to Clue 4 which is going to be longer because of that book coming out this weekend. Since I am not going to be reading, I will be working on the shawl inbetween socks I am finishing for people and getting ready for my Mom and Jack arriving in 2.5 weeks.

And speaking of my shawl ministry, please pray for Kathy. She is the second person to receive one of my shawls and she is the second woman to succumb to Ovarian Cancer. She has bravely tried every possible treatment but her doctors told her there are no more things to try. Hospice services have been called in and unless the Great Physician heals her on earth, she will be going Home to Him. Please pray for her husband as this is his second wife he has lost. He is a Believer but this is a challenge to one's faith. Kathy is my Mom's neighbor. Please pray that her journey will be bearable if she must go. Thank you.

Problem Solved

Well, it turns out that it wasn't so disastrous afterall. I should have taken a picture of what it looked like and you would know why I was freaking! :o) I was able to pick up the stitches, sort them out and continue knitting to finish Clue 1. It wasn't the relaxing knit I was looking forward to, but it did get done...and now it is up and out of sight of the little people! Now if I could fix this migraine as easily, I'd be in business...back to cleaning and packing!

Mystery Stole 3 Swatch

Well, I am finally getting around to making a swatch for the Mystery Stole 3 KAL (knit along). I have been too busy and exhausted to knit anything. and I also wanted to wait closer to the date for the first clue so that I would not be going crazy waiting to start! LOL I am using Zephyr laceweight in Violet, which is a nice lavender color. I forgot to photograph the beads but that will come soon enough. They are clear but have a hint of pearlescent coloring. I think they will go well with the lavender. I am a loose knitter so I am using size 3 Addi lace needles. Melanie, the designer said she used 4 and generally I need to go down a size from most people. Since this swatch is mainly to see what type of fabric we get with our yarn and needles and is not derived from the pattern itself, I did not bother to block this as blocking will not give me any accurate information as to what size stole I will come up with. If you are interested in knowing more about the KAL, you can go to Pink Lemon Twist, which is the designer, Melanie's blog. There is also a Yahoo group and signups are closing today or tomorrow...soon at any rate!

Post-Blocking Peacock Shawl

Here is the blocked Peacock Feathers Shawl hanging in my dirty window! Because it is so big it was not as easy to hang to get pictures and unfortunately the way I had to fasten it up, so that the weight wouldn't pull it down, made the left edge curl. :o( Don't look at the dirty windows. We live just a block (as the crow flies) off the freeway and it is always dusty here (and part of the reason I struggle with my asthma here).
A close up showing the crocheted cast off edge.
The point of the shawl.
A closeup of the point.
More of the shawl. If we were just another month or two down the road, I could get better light for pictures, but the sun isn't far enough south yet, so I think they are pretty, but not quite what I was aiming for. It feels good to have this done. When the girls got up from their "room time" (Nap?! HA HA! I wish!), A said, "Good job Mommy!" LOL

We have our tradition with shawl ministry shawls...each one has to be worn and photographed...that's the hug that gets sent with each one. So I'll have hubby take a picture of me in it and I'll take a picture of the kids wrapped up in it and since he did it for my cousin Nancy, I'll probably even twist hubby's arm to have his picture in it, since it is for Grandma after all! :o) The things we do for love!

Thank you for stopping by to look and thanks for the lovely comments everyone. This was a fun knit!

Peacock Feathers Shawl

I mentioned yesterday that I am working on the Peacock Feathers Shawl for my Grandma Pfau. Pfau means peacock in German. I had in mind to do a shawl for her anyway, but this winter in a couple weeks time she lost her step-daughter Josie who she was very close to and her oldest son Dick. During this sam etime she also found out that one of her nephews had passed away. So I wanted to give her something to wrap up in and remind herself that she is loved. Grandma has a strong faith which sustains her, but grief is grief and it's never easy.

I'm sorry the picture isn't very good quality. I had a hard time capturing this and finally gave up on getting the color which is a heathered blue with bits of red in it which gives it a purpleish cast. The yarn I am using is Knit Picks Shadow in Jewels Heather. Because I want the shawl to be large enough I am doubling the yarn and using size six instead of size four needles. It's hard to tell from the photo...you know how lace is, a blob until it gets blocked...but I think it will be fine. It will not be quite as dainty and lacy as the original but it will be nice for its purpose. I am nearing the end of chart four but this pattern goes on for quite some time before doing the plumes at the end. Hopefully it won't get too boring. I'm finding it's an easy lace pattern to do because you can see in your knitting what should come next and you can watch the detail unfold before you. Hopefully that will help prevent errors since I am knitting while vegging with the kids as we recover from this yuck!