Stash Alert!

One of the threads on Ravelry prompted me to get out my ColourMart yarn, so that I could start listing my stash ... new yarns are ssuch a temptation and it's so easy to forget what is already tucked away.

Even knowing that I had a nice collection I was a little shocked when I saw this:

ColourMart seals each cone in plastic before shipping and lots of mine is still protected .... and a couple more orders are on their way!!!

Note to self: knit more before ordering (or even visiting their site!)

That would be stay away from here

Holiday Knitting

I'm just back from 2 weeks in the DR. Two weeks of sunshine and no obligations -- and knitting whenever I wanted!

I have a couple of projects still on the needles, but have one new one finished, and blocking .... it's taking a while to dry.

It's Ethereal Triangular Shawl by Lakshmi Juneja. It's a free pattern on Ravelry, knit with ColourMart Chasmere/Cotton 3/15 NM shiny cotton yarn (love this yarn, it's gorgeous to knit with!)

I also have After Hours shawl on the needles - knitting it in Zauberball in teal and black. And Firebird in a delightful mohair yarn with a gold metallic thread that I found on Elann.com. Photos when I've made some more progress.

And I left my Antonia by Birgit Freyer at home because it simply needs its edging, and I wanted to be sure I wouldn't run out of projects while I was away. It's in Colourmart Cash/Cotton shiny cotton too - only it's in Lapis Lazul. The other is in the colourway Granate. I did say I love the feel of knitting with this yarn!

A Belated Happy New Year!

How appropriate that I should start the new year - belatedly - with a belated Advent Calendar Shawl .... I just couldn't get it together - and Advent is not the best time for me to start new projects. So here is my Advent Calendar Shawl
It was not my favourite knit. I discovered and confirmed as I knit this, that I do not enjoy knitting sampler type shawls with spacers in between. I prefer shawls and stole that flow. There were lots of sections where I enjoyed the lace design - just not the choppiness of it! I'll know for another time. This picture doesn't show the whole shawl -- it's 84" long by 24" wide

It was knit in Knit Picks Shadow, colourway Sunset and took just under 1000 yards of yarn. That's because I skipped 3 of the 24 days. The pattern can be found here on Ravelry.

My reward for not quitting was a much quicker knit - and smaller shawlette. It took 1 skein of sockweight yarn. I used Unwind's SeaWool. The colourway tag is lost!
Here is Pimpelliese

Best of all -- both were knit from stash yarn so I can feel virtuous. The yarn stretches when wet, so my finished shawlette is 181 cm X 40 cm at the deepest point.

Now I need to decide what will be shawl #3 for this year. I've signed up for 11 shawls in 2011. Now I feel somewhat caught up, and more as if it might be possible to accomplish it!