Scarf naming contest results

I've christened my new scarf pattern the Mountain Sunrise Lace Scarf.

Thirty-seven names were submitted for the contest. After seriously considering each and every one, I concluded that none of them quite captured the essence of the design. (Sorry....) They did, however, help me find a name.

Even though I didn't choose any of the names submitted, I am awarding a free copy of my pattern to the two who came closest -- Toby for Mountain Peaks and Michelle for Mountain Vista. Toby and Michelle both have been successfully contacted and a free pattern delivered. It turns out that Toby is a 14-year-old boy who knits. He lives in the Netherlands. Great going, Toby!

I want to thank everyone who took the time to send me a name for this pattern.

The pattern is now for sale for $3.00 through Ravelry as an immediate download.

Mountain Sunrise Lace Scarf - pattern for sale!

Announcing the newest pattern in my lace collection -- the Mountain Sunrise Lace Scarf. It's a simple, yet elegant, lace scarf that is easy enough for a beginning lace knitter. The lace design reminds me of mountain tops.

The sample scarf was knit with 220 yards of fingering weight yarn on size 4 (3.5 mm) needles. The scarf measures 7" x 50" when blocked.

If you desire a longer scarf, start with 250-300 yards of yarn. If you'd like a lighter weight scarf, knit it in laceweight on smaller needles.

The 3 page pdf pattern includes a lace chart, line-by-line knitting directions, and some lace knitting tips.

This pattern can be found in my Ravelry pattern store.

For more information, visit my Ravelry pattern store to see all my available designs, current pricing information, and purchase pattern downloads.

A simple lace scarf -- name me?

Here's a peek at the newest lace on my needles. I pin blocked it to open up the lace. Do you like it?

I finished test knitting this scarf pattern last night. It will be on the blocking board in a little while. The yarn I'm using shades from pink to peach to pale green and back again. Below is a picture of the scarf being blocked.

I've scribbled notes all over my pattern. I have to get them all written up while I can still decipher them. LOL! Finished pictures and more information to come...

What should I name it? The person who comes up with the best name will receive a free copy of the pattern.

Please post your suggestion as a comment to this post to enter. Deadline: Thursday night at midnight EST. Contest has ended.

The winning name is Mountain Sunrise Lace Scarf.

What's at the end of a rainbow?

Monday evening I was treated to a very unexpected sight. Some heavy rain had moved through our area. I suspected there might be a rainbow and sure enough there was. When I looked out my front window to the east I saw this. (Can you see it?) After picking my jaw up off the floor, I ran for my camera. I hoped I got a picture of it before it disappeared. It didn't last very long.

I couldn't believe my eyes! I've never seen a rainbow come all the way down to the ground!

Doesn't look like there's a pot of gold around anywhere. LOL!

There's lots of knitting, frogging, and a some not terribly nice words being said around here. I've been ensnared by the lure of lace again. LOL! I'm charting pattern ideas for scarves and shawls as fast as I can get them down on paper. After knitting samples of each, I pinblock them to get an idea of what they will look like. Three have made the grade so far. Last night, I worked up edgings for two lace scarves.

There is still much work to be done before I can publish them. Samples of the edgings have to be knit to make sure they work for the designs. The entire pattern will have to be knitted and pictures taken of the finished item. Choosing the right yarn can be a challenge. The body of the patterns have already been charted. The pattern directions and line-by-lines still have to be written.

It's astounding how much time and work goes into every lace pattern. For me, it's an obsession that is so worth it! I love the process, the finished product, and sharing them with you. :-)

Oh! I'm forgetting that the patterns will need names. How about another blog contest to name that lace and give a free copy of the pattern(s) to the winners? Anyone interested in doing this again? Or being a test knitter? Leave a comment on this post to let me know. Include your Ravelry ID if you're interested in test knitting and how much lace experience you have. Thanks!

Gardening season

The weather has finally warmed up enough for gardening season. Here's a picture of my rhododendron blooming. Last weekend, I spent a lot of time outside weeding and planting. Even though I wore a hat and stayed out of the sun as much as possible, I still managed to sunburn my arms and the top of my feet. I'm so fair skinned that I freckle, burn and peel. Hubby turns brown. I've had to stay inside all week out of the sun. The sunburn is finally fading. Today, I bought some sunscreen.

Hubby has the garden tilled, the beds laid out, and started planting potatoes and other things. Then we have to get some mulch down to keep the weeds from coming back and taking over. I hate weeding! (especially when it's 90 degrees outside) Our next door neighbors are helping with the work for a share of the harvest. I don't mind sharing the work at all!

We garden organically. That means we use no chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers (not on our grass either). If we have a bug problem, we pick them off by hand. (I do it with gloves on.) :-) Our compost bin is where we put our grass clippings, vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, and egg shells. Done correctly, it doesn't smell at all. Over time these waste products break down into the most incredibly rich soil. We use it to enrich our garden. It makes our plants grow like crazy.

We order our garden seeds while the snow is still on the ground. Start our tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cabbages, etc. inside 6 weeks before the last frost date. We like to grow heirlooms or other varieties with great flavor. No store bought sets for us (if you can even find them anymore). Once the plants are hardened off so they are used to being outside, they are planted in the garden. Other things such as summer squash are direct seeded.

With so much wildlife in our area, it is a challenge to have a garden. Critters don't like to share. The deer ate 98% of our cucumbers last year. No fair! This year, I've planted them up by the house. I don't think they will bother them up by the house. We make tall wire cages to grow the cucumbers up. It is much easier to pick them and they take up a lot less space.

In the garden we cage our tomatoes and summer squash. Otherwise, the ground hog would eat them. He knocked over the cages around our brussels sprouts last year and ate them down to the ground. One of our neighbors has already had his broccoli plants nibbled to the ground by this hungry pest. We've found that caging individual plants works better than fencing the entire garden. Ground hogs dig under fences. With small cages, they don't do that. That said, we may put a tall fence around the garden next year. It would have to be tall enough to keep the deer out and fixed deep enough in the ground to keep the ground hog from digging in. We'd love to grow sweet corn again. You haven't had sweet corn until you've had it fresh from the garden. It's sweet as sugar! We can't grow it again until we have a way to keep the raccoons out of the garden.

I'm already dreaming of fresh summer squash -- zucchini, patty pans, crooknecks, etc. Over the years I've come up with or found a lot of good recipes to use them in main dishes, salads, and desserts. When we start to harvest them, I'll probably share a few with you.

Yarns Unlimited

I've been out of town for a couple of days this week. Hubby had to go to Bloomington, Indiana for some training for work. I got to tag along. We arrived on Monday evening in the dark and pouring rain. The weather was much better on Tuesday. It was sunny and a little chilly.

While hubby was in class, I spent a couple of very pleasant hours at Yarns Unlimited. It's not very far from the IU campus where we stayed at the Biddle Conference Center in the Memorial Union Building (see picture).

Yarns Unlimited is in the Fountain Square Mall right off the downtown courthouse square. Suzanne Halvorson owns the shop. (That's her behind the cash register ringing up my purchases.) She's a very talented weaver. I saw some of her gorgeous scarves for sale in the gallery in the mall.

The shop stocks lots of nice yarns for both knitting and weaving. You can even buy looms and spinning wheels and some spinning fiber.

I had a good browse through her inventory and managed to bring part of it home with me. LOL! I just missed the Habu trunk show at the shop. (Sorry I missed that.) She had some yarn left from that and was expecting more. For the first time I got to see the new Noro sock yarn. Suzanne had four colorways in it. I treated myself to a skein of gray and purple. Though knowing me, I doubt I'll knit socks out of it. She had some huge 8 ounce hanks of organic cotton yarn in natural grown colors, not dyed. I resisted those even though I was severely tempted. She has bamboo yarn on the cone that you can buy by the ounce. And lots of hand dyed yarns in many fibers from Robin Edmundson, a local spinner and dyer. Suzanne is the only shop that carries her yarn. Otherwise, you have to buy through her website or at a fiber festival.

If you're in the area, please stop in and visit. Tell her Vicki sent you. :-)

Twirly Q Scarf to crochet

As promised, here's a picture of the crocheted scarf I made. It's a crocheted version of the knitted curly scarves that are so popular. Fast and easy to make!

I used 2 skeins of a two-color, light worsted weight boucle I picked up for $1 a skein from Big Lots. It's Premier Yarns Babe (83% acrylic/15% Polyamide/2% polyester) with 82 yards per skein. The yarn label calls this a bulky weight yarn but it isn't.

Crocheted Twirly Q Scarf

Finished size: 3" wide x 54" long

Light worsted weight - 164 yards/100 gms
Crochet hook size H (5.0 mm)

Pattern is available as a free download through my Ravelry pattern store.