Like The Queen
Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.

2 Comments:

Bess, that cashmere shawl is going to be just stunning.

By Blogger cathy, at 5:27 PM  

That shawl is so beautiful!

By Blogger jane, at 6:17 AM  

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Friday, January 22, 2010  

Eurika!

I discovered that missing chart for my cashmere shawl!

This is as far as I'd gotten on it and then Other Things stepped ahead in the line. Then Christmas loomed and all projects not essential to gift giving and holiday decorating were bundled off to nooks and cranies. Last night I went poking around in a dark corner and sitting on top of a box of MoreLaceYarn was the missing chart.

I have about 6 inches of blue lace border to knit and then I believe I shall pick up this beauty and finish it. I would like to take at least one Saturday afternoon nap this winter, wrapped in the softness that is cashmere lace.

As you see, blogger is letting me upload pictures today so here are the missing illustrations from the last time I took a lovely walk in balmy sunshine with my beloved Socks, my little nurse dog who comforts me when I am sad or frightened.


"Don't worry Mama, I'll take care of you"

Here's the original Blue Sky of Winter


And here is a Monet-like reflection down below.


Honestly, sometimes the reflections are prettier than the original.

posted by Bess | 7:28 AM

1 Comments:

That scarf is lovely, and it's really neat about the fiber.

By Anonymous Lydia, at 10:41 AM  

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010  

First FO of 2010



I finished that lovely cashmere/mink scarf last night. I didn't block it because I'm not sure it needs to be blocked. I had pre-washed the yarn because it came with a fairly heavy coating of the oil used in spinning and I wanted to get a real feel for the texture and gauge it would knit at. I used #7 needles and did a simple seed stitch lace pattern, multiplied over 6 stitches. It hangs flat and has the loveliest halo to it. It's the natural color which is a sort of warm taupe - not a favorite of mine but it will be very nice as a gift to a friend who owns only neutral colors in cool tones and who has a birthday in about 2 weeks. Now that I know how nice this yarn is and how far one skein will go, AND now that Great Northern Yarns makes it in colors, I will buy some more for me.

I can hear the gasps of indignation even as I type this and am wondering if I ought to make a blog post about this at all. I'm not really interested in being controversal and I don't really have to Tell All about the Life-0-TheQueen. But this is my blog and it's my knitting blog and this is a knitting project - a finished knitting project. and then I remind myself that very few people are reading this anyway.

The website, and Clara Parkes of Knitters Review, who talked at length with the owner, assure me that the animals are sheered, not killed. Till I hear further I am going to act on faith and continue to enjoy this simply marvelous yarn. And that is as far as I intend to step into the debate about man's place in the chain of life.

So what is next on the knitting agenda? I am not sure. I still have about 6 inches of knitted on border to apply to that lovely Melon Shawl and of course there is my cashmere project, lying abandoned, mostly because I can't find the sketches of the lace edging patterns and I don't remember which stitch combinations I used and am way too lazy to work my way backwards with book and project. I have some lovely alpaca lace that will be a shawl for me and some lovely other lace yarns that will be lacy projects for Other People. They are not Bess Colors.

And my precious PABDOS gave me a skein of delicious Madil Kid Seta ... distributed by Cascade as their version of kid silk haze - in the loveliest spring green - as part of a knitting mama's Christmas present. I am so enamored I've decided to order several more skeins and make a lacy cardigan of it. Evidently 2010 is the year of YO's for TheQueen. I can think of nothing but lace opportunities. That may be my next real project.

Yesterday was one of those glorious warm sunshiny days that January throws us as a sop to the otherwise long slog of winter. Here are some very pretty pictures that make me wonder if the reflection is better than reality.

or maybe not. Blogger doesn't seem to want to open up the photo loading link. Ah well. I shall post them later, then.

It's back to werkwerkwerk now. Long week stuffed into a few days.

Ta

posted by Bess | 7:15 AM

1 Comments:

THAT is a really fantastic squirrel picture! And yes, I am such a geek I get excited by animal photography.

By Blogger Catherine, at 6:04 PM  

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Sunday, January 10, 2010  

Where has she beeeeen?



Well - mostly I've been on Spark People dot com working hard to turn this fluffy flappy fifty seven year old body into something that takes up less space. Long time readers know that some years ago I took of substantial weight using Weight Watchers. Alas, over the past 7 years a good bit of it has come back to live at my house - on my body. And while I think there is much that is good about WW - in my particular situation there seemed to be too much emphasis on how to fit cookies and chocolate in and not enough on how to fit nutrition in. This is not WW's falt but more my response to the stimuli I as getting. My perception. I needed a switch and C tipped me off to Spark People which had the right mix of discipline and flexibility I was looking for ... and it is FREE!!!

And I can ignore all the advertisers - after all - I use google and hotmail and weather dot com and who has more creepy adds than them?

There's a blog feature on Spark People and that's where I'm doing most of my daily posting just in case you've missed me.

But I have also been knitting and doing other things besides workin' my butt off ... soon I hope!

Here are some pictures:

do you remember late last summer when Clara Parkes reviewed a mink yarn? Did you succumb? I did. And I finally cast something on. Needing a mindless knitting project and wanting to know what this stuff was like I started an easy lacy garter/seed stitch scarf.



I may not have enough to knit a full fashion length scarf but it will be long enough to wrap around my neck and fold across my chest beneath a coat. It's a lot like knitting cashmere or other non-crimpy fibers. It also has a lovely fuzzy halo.



And here is the almost finished Melon Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. Talk about "hearting" a project. I love this shawl.



This is turning out to be the coldest winter we've ever had - this is our third snowfall!! I have feeders around the edge of the yard too for the shy types, but this window feeder, a Christmas gift from BD a few years ago, hosts daily entertainment from these fellows and the little white throated sparrows.



So you see - TheQueen is alive and well even if she's somewhat silent.

Happy New Year to you all!

posted by Bess | 8:33 AM
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