This is not amusing...

It was not amusing to wake up to snow on the ground again on Wednesday morning. Mother Nature seems to be confused. It is spring but we continue to get cold, snowy, winter weather. Yesterday, we got 4 inches of heavy, wet snow. It came down so hard I couldn't see across the street. I really hope this is the last of the really cold weather. My poor daffodils have bit the dust. I fear for the fruit trees and all the other things that budded in the warm weather we had several weeks ago. Just before dusk yesterday, my husband called me to look out the window. There were four deer in our backyard at our birdfeeder looking for something to eat. I took several pictures through the window. Here's one of them. Look carefully and you'll see the 4 deer.

I'll probably won't have time to post again until Sunday. We're off to see the Celtic Women in concert tonight. Then it will be up early tomorrow to go the Fiber Event in Greencastle, Indiana. Time to stock up on spinning fiber! I hope to get my new camera going so I can bring back pics for my blog. I've been a little lazy getting up to speed on it. The new camera has lots more bells and whistles than my last camera. Trying to plow my way through the instruction booklet has been a bit of work. I don't understand why they can't write these things to say do this and do this to take a picture and learn the other bits as you go along.

Contest Update: Now up to 145 triangular shawl patterns. Contest ends at midnight on Sunday night. I'll announce the 4 prize winners on Monday. Keep sending those pattern names in!

New Contest Prize!

The triangle shawl pattern contest is now up to 129 patterns. There's still time to enter if you'd like a chance to win some yarn. Click here to find the details on the contest, what the prizes are, and where to email submissions. Entries posted as comments on my blog do not count.

I picked out a skein of Liz's hand dyed sock yarn as an additional contest prize. This is a 440 yard skein of fingering weight merino wool. Liz calls the colorway "Skittles." It has been dyed with purple, blues, pinks, and yellows. This yarn is not just good for socks. Another friend, Elizabeth, knit the cutest baby sweater out of one skein of this yarn. Or there is enough to make a small shawl.

Also in the picture is the latest sock in pink Opal sock yarn. It's really pretty! I ripped it back and tried a different bind off at the cuff. This time I tried Peggy's Stretchy Bind-off for Toe-Up Socks. It doesn't look as ruffly as some of the stretchy bind offs I've tried and has a lot more stretch. (One note: I didn't have to go up a needle size to get this to work.) The other bind-off I'd been using was a little tight in the cuff. On the next pair of socks I may try the crochet bind-off in the Queen Kahuna Crazy Toes and Heels Socks book.

I went stash diving yesterday for yarn for a baby sweater. Last week I found out my cousin, Kim, is having a baby in May. I wish someone had told me sooner. I pulled out my pattern for a hooded baby sweater and cast on with some Bernat Softee Baby in Chiffon Print (white with flecks of purple, yellow, blue, and green). The little sweater is knit top down in one piece. So far I've finished the hood and ribbing at the neck.

The prayer shawl has been successfully delivered. The gift brought a smile and lifted spirits to someone who is having a difficult time. I'm so glad she liked it and that it made her feel a little better. It will remind her every time she wears it that others care about her. A gift of this sort has love in the stitches and provides a warm hug when it's worn.

Easter clearance sales

Don't forget to hit the Easter clearance sales today. It's a good time to pick up Easter Egg dye to use to dye wool yarn. I went to Joann Fabrics this morning and got the last 5 boxes at 29 cents a box (70% off). Each one has 6 dye tablets in it. Then I went over to Target to see what they had at 50% off. Watch your labels as some of their packages only have 3 or 4 tablets in them. I bought two boxes for 75 cents each that have 9 color tablets in them! They're the Dudley's Easter Egg Decorating Kit in the green box. The normal colors in these kits are blue, green, yellow, orange, pink or purple. Not this one! It has blue, TEAL, green, yellow, orange, BROWN, STRAWBERRY, pink, and purple.

I pulled out the Shetland scarf that has been stalled because of other projects. I wound the yarn into a center pull ball so I can start the other end of the scarf. This pattern is one you have to knit the ends separately and graft one of them on so that the pattern runs the same direction when you wear it.

I've started a new pair of socks with some Opal Magic sock yarn in pink. It's a beauty! I have one sock done except for the bind off. It's too tight and I have to do it again. I found a new method I'm going to try out. The Opal yarn is definitely a little bit thinner than the Regia and other brands I've knit with.

I buy my sock yarn online at Little Knits. Sue has a good selection of sock yarn, including Opal. Some of it's on sale for $7.50 and $8.75 for a 462 yard skein (enough to make a pair of socks. Check out the Skacel Trampoline Stretch sock yarn in Tiger for $3.50 a skein (2 balls makes a pair of socks). Even though I didn't need to buy any more sock yarn, the 50% off lured me into purchasing some more. I order my sock yarn online as none of our local stores carry more than a handful of skeins.

While I was there I also ordered a skein of Lane Borgosesia Cashwool. It's 100% extrafine merino laceweight put up in 1,460 yard skeins. I bought a skein of purple to try out plus a couple of Jade Sapphire shawl patterns---A Girl's Best Friend and the Crystalline Shawl. Both are gorgeous! The Crystalline Shawl takes 700 yards of yarn. I'm seriously considering making it up in the peachy pink Corriedale/tencel I spun recently. I just happen to have about 716 yards of it! LOL!

Contest update: There are now 129 triangular shawl, scarf, shawlette, etc. patterns on the list. You have through next Sunday to enter to win some yarn. I'm going to add a fourth yarn prize. Watch for a pic soon!

Triangle shawls: updates

I've had some feedback on my earlier post on different ways to knit triangle shawls. I've updated it to includes links to patterns made using a particular method. Some are free patterns and some are purchased. Thanks, Joan S for your very helpful comments. :-)

Contest entries are now up to 122 triangle shawl patterns. I have to admit that a couple of them are more like half circle shawls. That's not far off from a triangle with the point blunted.

The Spring 2007 issue of Knitter's Magazine is out. It has a gorgeous lace triangle shawl called Spring Garden on page 44.

Elann.com has recently posted a couple of new triangle shawls too. Woo-hoo!

Prayer shawl finished

The prayer shawl is finished and ready to be delivered. Last night, I bound it off and blocked it before I went to bed. This version of the Forest Canopy shawl was made with 440 yards of yarn and 14 pattern repeats before the edging. Definitely a much larger shawl than a 350 yard skein of Mountain Colors Weavers Wool.

Entries for the triangle shawl pattern contest are now up to 93. If it gets to 100, I'll sweeten the pot with another yarn prize---either a 440 yard skein of handdyed sock yarn or a skein of my handspun big enough to knit one of the shawls on the list. Check out my March 27 post to find out how to enter. Stay tuned...

Triangle shawls - let me count the ways... (updated)

How many ways can you shape a triangle shawl? In running this shawl contest, I've discovered there are many ways to accomplish this.

Bottom up
1) Cast on a bazillion stitches and decrease 1 stitch on each edge (every other row) until down to 3 stitches and bind off---Red Hat Lady Shawl
2) Cast on a few stitches, increase 1 stitch on each edge EOR until the size you want and bind off---Crystal Cove, Simple Triangle, Thrift Shop Shawl
3) Cast on a bazillion stitches and decrease 1 stitch on either side of the center stitch and at each edge EOR (every other row) until down to 3 stitches and bind off---Papillion, Spanish Dancer

Top down
1) Cast on 3 stitches and increase 1 stitch at each edge plus 1 stitch on either side of the center stitch EOR until the size you want and bind off---Comfort Shawl, Easy Garter Stitch Shawl
2) Cast on a bazillion stitches and decrease 1 stitch at each edge EOR (every other row) until down to 3 stitches and bind off---Shoulder Shawl

Side-to-side
Cast on a few stitches and increase 1 stitch on only one edge EOR until the size you want, then start decreasing EOR until down to a few stitches and bind off---Drop Stitch Twist Shawl

Mitered
Cast on a bazillion stitches and do a 2 stitch decrease in the center ever so many rows until just a few left and bind off---Mitered Squares Shawl

Multiple triangles
1) Knit 3 triangles and seam them together in an L shape---Loop de Loop, Sheer One Piece Shawl
2) Knit 2 big triangles. Cast on 3 stitches and increase on one edge EOR until big enough. Make another to match. Seam them together with the knitting running in different directions---Twin Peaks Shawl

Half square
If you have a square shawl pattern that's knit from the center out, you may be able to knit half of it as a triangle shawl.

Have I missed any? Let me know and I'll add it to the list.

The triangle shawl contest entries are now up to 81 patterns. There's still time to enter.

New handspun

My wheel has been really whizzing lately. I finished spinning and plying 2 different fibers yesterday. Here they are all skeined, washed, and ready to go.

The top skein is white and pink Shetland from my friend, Norma. She lives in North Carolina where she raises Shetland sheep and crafts well-balanced drop spindles. This fiber was Shetland locks she washed and combed. She dyed the pink ones too. Norma "roos" her sheep instead of shearing them. I alternated spinning a white lock and a pink lock. I plyed it with the rest of the peach rayon thread from the Corriedale project. Final result: about 2 ounces of fiber/346 yards/a little thinner than fingering weight yarn.

Wait a minute. If I used up that entire spool of rayon thread, that means I've spun over 1,000 yards of yarn in the last week or so! Woo-hoo!

The bottom skein is the blue green merino from a couple of posts back. The colors in the yarn are a lot more muted than they were in the roving. It's pretty, but not what I was hoping it would be. Just goes to show that you can't tell what the yarn will look like from the roving. 3 ounces of fiber/278 yards/2 ply fingering to a little heavier.

The Forest Canopy shawl is coming along. I hope to get it finished and blocked in the next few days. The weather is going down the tubes here in northern Indiana. Our wood pellet stove will be turned on shortly and run for several days to help heat our house. It will be a good time to dry a shawl or skein of yarn overnight. Otherwise, it can take several days to dry.

CONTEST UPDATE:
Triangle shawl patterns submitted 77
Names entered in the drawing 28

You still have time to enter. Click here to get the details. Contest runs thru April 15, 2007.