2011 winter Mystery Shawl FINALLY finished!

I started this Mystery KAL from Goddess Knits with good intentions.  The original yarn I choose was a kettle dyed lace wight. I fought against the yarn; frogging endlessly. I couldn't get past clue 1. The yarn is dark blue, midnight. There is nothing wrong with it. I was very "green" as a lace knitter and struggled with working with lace weight yarn. One night I just gave up and headed to The Knitter's Edge in Bethlehem, PA. It was a Monday night and they weren't open; so I went to AC Moore. They had the Patons Lace I chose. I decided to do the optional beading as well and purchased inexpensive seed beads while I was there. Ok, I really was NOT thinking this through or I was too "green" to know what I was doing. First off, NEVER cheap out on the beads for a knitted or crocheted project. The shape, size and wholes are far from consistant. Frankly, half the beads didn't have wholes! UGH Nightmare! Second, think twice about beading Patons Lace, unless your beads are larger than what you would normally use for lace weight yarn. Well after hibernating the project frequently, I set out to finish it. I love the shawl.  It is far from perfect. I made mistakes along the way I was too inexperienced to notice at the time, but I love it.

I present Snowfall - Goddess Knits:

Enjoy!

Nancy

Romi Mystery KAL 2015 - Clue 1

I have never knitted a shawl designed by Romi, but they are gorgeous. I decided to join this Mystery Kinit along (MKAL).  The original plan was to use yarn from my stash. Well as with all best laid plans it went by the wayside after a visit to Kraemer's Yarn Store! I found two beautiful hanks of Color Me Statts Ranch Fingering Yarn in two shades of green. The pattern called for two colors. I love green, but have no green shawls. Had to buy it for this MKAL. It is superfine merino and luxurious kid mohair, soft and wonderful to knit with. Clue 1 was release on Friday 4/3/15. I started and finished on Saturday.

I enjoyed working on Clue 1 and look forward to Clue 2! I had an issue with Chart B. After four tries I finally got it! I don't know why I had an issue, it wasn't difficult, but I couldn't get the "columns" that radiat out to line up. 

Enjoy!

Nancy

Dotted Rays Shawl

I started this shawl during the Stephen & Steven tour at The Knitter's Edge. I took the Shawl class. At the end of the class Stephen West helped us pick out yarn and get started on one of his shawls. I had a ton of yarn from my stash and he picked these colors for the striped version of Dotted Rays. I LOVE the end result!  This was an easy shawl to knit and went quickly. 

The beginnings of the shawl.

I was making the larger version, but I was still very surprised at just how large it is! 

I ran out of space and blocking squares! I had this positioned diagonally across my full sized bed and the end had to hang off the end of the bed! 

This was an enjoyable knit and will consider making another one in the future.

Happy knitting

Nancy

2010 Advent Scarf

No that is not a typo. I finally finished the 2010 Advent Scarf! During December I am usually too busy to participate in the KAL (Knit Along) for the Advent Scarf. I do collect the patterns (one day I may do 2011-2014 Advent Scarves). One common element of all Advent Scarves that are out there, they are very long scarves!! This one is roughly 7 feet, which is a common length. The  Advent Scarf I follow is out of Germany and is a Lace Advent Scarf. On Ravelry, it is the 24 Days of Christmas Group.

I started this scarf in the Winter of 2011. I have worked on it and put it aside often since then. It was finally finished this week!! I love it! Though it needs to be washed and blocked, I decided to share some pictures. I will be the first to admit there are some mistakes. Not all lace patterns were knitted perfectly, but it came out beautiful.

Happy Knitting!

Nancy D

2013 Christmas Knitting

December was a very busy month! I spent it knitting and crocheting as fast as I could to get all the presents done. Mission accomplished!

On December 19 the Heartfelt Knitters had the annual Christmas Party. What a great group of ladies! We draw names in September for our gift exchange. I had a wonderful lady named Stephanie. She had mentioned how she loved shawls. So, hint received, I knitted Summer Flies (pattern available on Ravelry) in Kudo (cotton/silk) striping yarn. The shawl is beautiful (if I do say so myself). It is a little heavier, which is great for the winter.

 

 

Knitted and crocheted gifts were the theme for 2013. My mother-in-law Ann also received the Summer Flies Shawl. This one I used Blue Heron's metallic Rayon. It is light weight and has a lovely drape.

 

 

 

For my mother, Janice and my friend Jo the Holden shawl was my choice. My mother's was knitted with Plymouth Yarn Alpaca Prima in Burgundy. Jo's was knitted with Kraemer's Saucon Sock (cotton) yarn in green.

 

 

I absolutely love both of these shawl patterns. They are easy and a quick knit.

Two hats were made as gifts this year. I knitted a snowman hat (purchased as a kit at The Knitter's Edge) for my grandmother. A minion (Despicable Me) hat was crocheted for Spence ( my sister-in-law Beth's fiancé). The minion hat was a combination of a couple of patterns.

And last but not least, my sister-in-law Audra. She lives in LA and always asks for winter gear! :) So she got a scarf and headband. The Scarf was made using Marble Chunky. It is a simple triple crochet. The headband is out of Just Fur Kicks and Plymouth Encore. Both were fun quick projects.

 

 

PHEW!!! Glad all this is done! I need to start these projects a bit earlier next year! Though it was a lot of work and stress, I am so glad I was able to make so many gifts. Everyone was very pleased with their presents!

 

As you can see, even Santa (though he didn't have to do all this crafting) is tired!

 

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas! Merry Christmas!!