Never Frog Pond

I am happy to see that we are all surviving the May clue. With the skeleton of the June clue already in place, we are about to hit the midpoint in our shawl. Wow! has it really been six months already? June promises to be interesting, fresh and sparkling, and yes, we will introduce a relatively new skill. I told you. By the time we finish the year, we will all be expert lace knitters.

A lot of things happening at the pond. First, the Crannog Throw went up live in the Knit Picks website. I also put it up in Ravelry since some international shoppers had trouble with the settings at that site. (And what the heck are Crannogs? ). It is getting more love than I expected for a heavy worsted blanket in the summer.

And guess who is all done?

That is right, the famous, not-yet-named triangle shawl. Here it is, hot off the needles, waiting for the beauty bath

Here it is, on the pins and blocking wires. Whenever I set a lace shawl to block, it always amazes me - it is like magic! All that gorgeousness happening as you stretch a little bit of twisted string...
Here is a detail of the tip:

I love how this pattern developed! In one direction, it looks like a field of flower buds, on the other, like flowers on a long stem. The pattern has about 5-6 charts, all really simple knitting with only a bit of trick on the edge. Because it is so varied, it is really entertaining to knit. More like knitting crack. I am SO ready to cast on another one on lace weight.

In fact I could not help myself and had to go take the whole family out for a suitable picture location. The weather this last week has been unbelievable, mild, breezy and plain gorgeous. And with summer looming ahead, you take every opportunity to go out!

And here we are on a trek to South Mountain - I am told this is one of  US largest city parks. Not much greenness, mind you, but beautiful rugged rocky terrain and cactus.

Lovely contrast between the rugged rock, and softness, organic nature of the shawl. I love this picture. DH is getting pretty artsy with the pictures, he even suggested this lovely shadow picture:

And here is yours truly modelling it - you get a feel of the size. This was knitted actually kind of tight on size 3 needles using sock yarn, but the pattern is so open you get great size even though I only used about 350 yards. I am wondering about adding a little bit of size for the final version.

Unfortunately, the hike had to be cut a bit short. Toddlers don't like walking on the desert, and baby is getting a little heavy to carry him around for miles. So we went to the park instead for some more pictures:

So now, the boring part of the work: condense the charts, do the writing part, test knitting, editing, yadda yadda. Meanwhile, I just can't get over how much I like the flower border. So I have an idea for a small shawl using mostly stockinette and a larger version of the border. Still chewing on it.

I just can't decide on a name for the shawl... I can smell a naming contest coming!!!

Now for a little yarn.
But first, if you are not following the Ravelry group, generous shop owner Christine has offered us some free samples of Zitron Filigran, an eco-friendly lace yarn. Knitting is such a tactile experience, that being able to feel and touch the yarn makes all the difference.
And, she has promised me a few samples to touch, swatch and review, and I am so excited!!! look forward to reviews on future posts.

Meanwhile, I got in all kinds of trouble at the Sanguine Gryphon update again.
Here is a sweaterful of Lubber Grasshopper Bugga. (And look, it brought a friend! a miniskein in Eidos)

Somehow, a skein of Mystery Skinny Bugga jumped in the cart. And irony of ironies, as I was just casting off a shawl made with the only frankly yellow skein in my stash, along comes this Yellow Dung Fly (a colorway that is no longer available I think)

I love the Lubber so much, I even got its Sappho II counterpart. Look how different it looks on this base, much more brown and orange.For those of you who have not met Sappho yet, it is a single-ply wool, reminiscent of Malabrigo, also quite soft. Sappho I is laceweight, about 800-ish yard, Sappho II is fingering weight, 400-ish yards.

And finally, I did something I have not done for a long time: I stalked a Friday update of the Wollmeise store. I emerged psychologically scarred. Buying yarn should not be this stressful and cutthroat. I did emerge with a skein of Petit Poison #5 dark, and one of Magnolia light, both in Twin. I love the colors, but if I had not been in a "hit and run" mentality, I probably would not have chosen those.

On a side note, what is with me getting all that pink yarn??? I have to confess the Magnolia would look great knitted up as a shawl. The color is gorgeous, but the yarn... well, it is far from soft.

Gotta go dive on my lace yarn stash... Do you want to bet I won't find exactly what I am looking for?