November and December theme announcement

You know what happens when you go on vacation... you get to pay when you come back. This month has been a little crazy and I have fallen behind with the updates. So finally, here it is... the rest of the year!

November: My Favorite Things

 

(For those that don't remember or have never heard the song: My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music)
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
 In USA, November is Thanksgiving month. The kids make crafts with pilgrims and cutout turkeys, and we eat one huge meal while watching football, to remember the meal the Pilgrims and Natives ate together in that first Harvest together a long time ago. Giving thanks for good things is a great habit. Psychologist say that thinking about our favorite things, the things we are thankful for, help put our minds get in the positive attitude that helps us overcome difficulties. So, indeed, when things are bad, simply remember your favorite things...
So, if you are stuck in a difficult lace pattern or having the finishing blahs (you know, when that project gets stuck in the "black hole phase", when you knit and knit and don't seem to get anywhere), think of your favorite lace pattern. That pattern that you just love to make, because it is beautiful and it is just joyful to knit.
I am looking for a classic, well known, wonderful pattern that just epitomizes lace knitting for you. The pattern you think a sampler should have.
So what is it going to be? Frostflowers? Lily of the Valley? Horseshoe? Feather and Fan? Arrowhead? Print o' the Wave?

December: A Perfect Snowflake

This is a perfect flake, preserved in 1974 in a drop of superglue!

 This is another obvious clue. I wanted the December theme to connect with January, which was Winter Wonderland. As it corresponds to an edge, it will be a little larger than the other month's clues, and we will try to preserve direction.

And then there is the Border...
I have been working long and hard to find a good border, and I think I have a good candidate. Sideways construction, check. Relatively easy, check. Expandable, check. Optional beads, check. Now I just have to do a whole lotta swatching, and the most difficult bit, get it to move around the corners. And fudging instructions, because i am willing to bet not two people in the group have the same row count!
Do you think you may be running short of yarn? Because I do. I like my edges wide. By the time I am done with December, I will have about 400 yards left which is probably enough for a narrower edge, but I don't want to work so hard to find out I am short in the edge. So I have asked Kate from Dragonfly fibers to dye for me another whole skein of Dragonlace in Cayenne. I plan to do my edge with the new skein, so even if there is color variation, it will be an accent to the center. So start planning ahead!

October clue...is still at the editors, waiting for corrections. As soon as it is done, it will be updated, so stay tuned.

Good Bye Old Friend!

  My unfinished shawl cache finally reached critical mass, and I had to get this one off the needles.It is the Frostflower Shawl from Vogue Knitting Shawls two: on the go!. It had a "difficult" rating, although except for grafting 100+ stitches at the end, it was easy, boring knitting. This was my travelling piece, always with me in the car, knitting one bit here and another there in short drives and flights. It has been to Tucson, Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, Zion State Park in Utah, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, and everywhere in Phoenix. Now I am really going to need another travelling piece!. Done in Malabrigo Lace in Sealing Wax color (I have a whole skein left, if somebody is drooling over it - open to trades). Whisper thin and oh so soft and warm. I am sure I will wear it a lot this winter.

And Hello new one!

Yes, my yarn diet is more like no-yarn gorges rule. I snagged this beauty on a destash:

Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Rooster Rock

  This is my first STR skein... and it is SO lovely I know I have STR fever now. The colors are just like a rooster tail, the definition of the color is lovely, the ply very uniform. Now I just have to find THE pattern to compliment this yarn.

Serendipity...

Design is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration... but sometimes it is 50% serendipity. You may remember when i was designing Cliffrose, I lost my initial set of charts and had to start anew, ended up with a totally different shawl. Well... I found them. Fallen behind a drawer. And all of the sudden, they are ready to become yet a totally different shawl!. If only the day had 48 hours...