Shawl Addiction

It may seem like I only knit shawls these days, but I swear that I have been knitting other things, too. It's just that a lot of it has been secret knitting so I can't reveal anything for a while. So, my knitting group decided to do a KAL (Knit-Along) for the Aestlight Shawl by The Shetland Trader. I jumped right in as soon I finished up a recent big project.It was fun to help each other choose our colors for the Shawl. I actually had a hard time deciding on which yarn to use because I needed the right yardage. Everything I wanted to use was short on the yardage requirement. I dug deeper into the stash and found a beautiful skein of sock yarn that had 550 yards. That would allow me to knit the largest size of the shawl.The construction of the shawl kept me captivated during the whole project. The triangle garter stitch portion is knit first. It was so easy to pick up the stitches for the border because of the yarn overs made during the garter stitch triangle. No guessing involved, just pick up the yarn overs with your needle! The triangle edging came last and it's knit sideways and attached to the live stitches of the border.I love the Bird's Eye Lace portion of the shawl. Do see the wires running along the shawl? I recently got the Knit Picks Lace Blocking Wires and this was my first time using it. It took some time to thread the wires through, but after that, it makes it so easy to form the straight sides. I am so glad that I bought them.This shawl turned out really big, but it could be due to my severe blocking of it. If I drape it over my shoulders, it hangs over my butt. I love the size, but I think it might look nice on someone much taller. So for now, it will be tucked safely in my Knitted Gifts Basket. Plus, I seem to have a problem with keeping anything for myself. I feel guilty for some reason. I kept the Green Shawl for myself recently, so I don't want to too greedy.

The shawl may be big, but it's light and airy with a beautiful drape. The yarn was a delight to knit with and very soft, so it's perfect for something against your neck.

Pattern: Aestlight Shawl (ravelry store link)
Yarn: Ruby Sock Yarn by RubySapphire Yarns in the colorway, Bethany. 550 yards of fingering weight. I had about 50 yards of yarn left over even though I made the Large size.
Needle: US 6/ 4mm
Size: 58" wide and 29" long (from the top to the bottom point of the shawl)

Hand dyed, Hand spun, and Hand knitted by Me.

Around January, Rebekah and I had a impromptu craft supply swap. She had admired a red blanket that I knit for Melody a while ago, so without her knowing, I sent her the rest of the yarn so she could knit her own. A few weeks later, I was surprised with a box full of goodies: Japanese felting books, felting needles, a bag full of colorful roving for felting, undyed Shetland Combed Top, and part of an embroidery kit.

She originally was going to use the undyed Shetland wool as the stuffing inside felted animals. With 4 oz of undyed fiber on my hands, my mind turned to spinning. So, one night, I pulled out the dye pot and kettle dyed the Shetland Combed Top. It was my first time dying roving and it went well. My fear was that the roving would fall apart as soon as it hit the water, but I was gentle and none of that happened.It dried by the next day, so I practiced braiding it into those pretty braids that you see when you buy roving/combed top.The spinning was a two part process. I had begun spinning half of it and then forgot about it for many months. I finally decided to finish it when I cleaned up my room and unearthed the spinning wheel. This was the thinnest yarn I have spun so far. It's a 2 ply, 395 yards of fingering weight (19 wpi). I was thrilled with how the yarn came out.I knew that I wanted to gift this yarn to a knitting friend of mine, but I thought that knitting her something with it would be even better. Ishbel by Ysolda Teague was a fun and fast knit. It's my first lace shawl project and it couldn't have been easier. I never had a problem with the stitch count like a lot of people on Ravelry. I made sure to keep my markers on the center stitch, which required moving it every so often but I think that helped.I made the Large Stockinette and Small Lace. I really wanted to show off the hand spun and felt that a larger stockinette would show more of the colors.Towards the end of the lace charts, I thought I would run out of yarn and would have to cut out part of the charts. Emily, from my knitting group, suggested I put in a life line just in case. With the life line in place, I was able to knit on with confidence and didn't care if I ran out of yarn because I could always rip back to the life line. Well, it was my lucky charm, because I finished it with plenty of yarn to spare. 395 was more than enough for a Large Stockinette, Small Lace Ishbel.I am going to give this to my friend for her birthday next year. It's at the end of February, so I am really proud of myself for being really ahead of schedule.

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Hand dyed, Hand spun Shetland Wool by me. 395 yards of 2 ply fingering weight. (I had leftover yarn.)
Needles: US 6/ 4 mm
Size: Large Stockinette, Small Lace. 55 inches across, 20 inches from the top to the bottom point.

All Shawl in Lichen

This pretty skein of hand dyed yarn from Pigeonroof Studios has been sitting in my stash for a long time. It was waiting for the perfect pattern to show off it's beautiful colors. This yarn is so soft and it has a nice drape.The All Shawl by Doris Chan is a pattern designed to use any yarn and any gauge. It's starts off at the neck by using Fsc (foundation single crochet). After that, it's just a matter of increasing in between the seven panels. This pattern is fast and easy with beautiful results.I made my sister model the shawl while she was visiting a few weeks ago. Although I can photograph myself, it is much easier to photograph someone else wearing it. After I made her model a few items, I pan fried her some homemade dumplings as payment. She didn't know it would take a while and was starving by the end of the photo shoot.Although I would never wear the shawl the traditional way (the above 2 photos), it does show off the edging quite nicely.In case you haven't noticed, I have been on a shawl kick lately. I never made a shawl until this year and now I can't stop. I have now realized how versatile a shawl can be. Look at the many ways it can be wrapped around your neck.And it can be flung over your shoulder just like a scarf. Just perfect!
Pattern: All Shawl (Free PDF pattern via Ravelry)
Yarn: Pigeonroof Studios Superwash Merino/Silk SILK TWIST Yarn in the color: Lichen, 400 yards of dk weight.
Hook: US J/ 6mm
Mods: Crocheted until I had 140 sts, then I started the border, omitted row 6 of border.
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I want to let you all know that Melody is 100% recovered! Thanks to all of you for your well wishes. I took her to the park today and she played for 1 hour in the sun and breeze. The weather was perfect today.

Still here.

Sorry for disappearing, but it's been crazy here. We had house guests and Melody was sick for 2 weeks. I have never seen her this sick. It just dragged on and on and there wasn't any medication that I could give her. Just pain reliever when she had a fever. The most amazing thing was that no one else got sick. I constantly washed my hands after wiping her nose because it was crucial that her primary care giver did not get sick.

She was pretty miserable and cried a lot. Her sleep and naps were constantly interrupted by her coughing and nose congestion. We definitely know that my neighbor's 2 yr old got her sick and we will be more careful next time. DH said that she is not allowed to play with him while he is sick. The funny thing is that even when he is sick, he acts like he isn't. I walked by the other day and his mom told me that he was sick again because they took him off his medication too early and it came back. He was running a 105 degree fever all day and was playing basketball all day in the back and videos games when he was inside. Nothing can bring this kid down. He is only 2 yrs old, but he is the size of a 4 yr old.

Grandma (my mom) was in town for a few days watching Broadway Shows and enjoying NYC with her girlfriends. She had not intended to visit, but decided at the last minute to prolong her stay and stay with us for a few days. We took Melody to the park so that she could get some fresh air and thought it would cheer her up. Look at that face! She has some tears in her left eye.She didn't have much expression on her face and spent the rest of the time crying. I have never seen her like this at all. Normally, she loves to run freely at the park and always has a big smile. We spent only 10 minutes there and quickly rushed her home when we realized that it wasn't working out.

Yesterday was the first day that she was back to normal. It's good to have my smiling, happy, little girl back.
When I found out my mom was going to be staying with us for 2 days, my brain went into over drive. I asked if she would mind babysitting 1 night so that DH and I could go out and have dinner. Not just any dinner, a dinner to celebrate our 7th Wedding Anniversary. I figured that we wouldn't have a nice dinner out this year because my friends, Jen and Jason, who babysat last year when we went to Mesa Grill, moved to New Jersey.

It was short notice, but I got reservations at Morimoto and was so excited to eat there. Let me say that it did not disappoint.Here I am enjoying a White Lily, their signature drink.I ordered the Omakase (tasting menu) and above is the Sashimi Salad.
DH does not eat raw seafood, so he ordered separately. Above is the special of the day entree, Saga Bop. The meat, Saga, was seared right at the table inside the hot stone pot along with rice and a raw egg on top. Everything gets cooked inside that stone pot. The meat was melt in your mouth tender.This was my main entree, Surf and Turf. Lobster with lemon creme fraiche and Wagyu Beef with sweet potatoes. I had 5 courses before the main entree was presented.This was my dessert that came with the tasting menu. A Yuzu Financier with Peach Sorbet. DH was so stuffed and had to skip dessert. He did have a tiny bite of mine. It was delicious and refreshing.And the best part of the evening? Meeting the Iron chef, Chef Morimoto!!! He was the reason I ordered the tasting menu. The waitress had told me that he was working at the restaurant that night and he chose the menu that night for the Omakase. It was fantastic. I got to sample so many dishes, but in small portions. I did not leave there feeling stuffed, but completely full and satisfied.This wall was behind the toilet in the ladies room. Pretty cool!
And this was on the wall next to the toilet. I did not try any of the functions. Electronic toilets has always freaked me out. In fact, the lid started moving up and down when I was snapping this photo and it startled me.

Even though we celebrated last week, today is actual day of our anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Steve!

I will be back soon with some knitting content.

Spinning Out of Control

Just when I thought life was getting back to normal, something always goes wrong. We are having out of town guests back to back from this week until next week. As soon as one is gone, the next person will be arriving. It's family coming to spend time with Melody so I don't mind at all. I have spent the last 2 weeks cleaning and organizing, but now it feels great to have the house neat for once.

Melody came down with a fever on Thursday night, but was still acting fine. Today, she is coughing (it sounds horrible) and she still has a fever. Plus, she is extra cranky. I was a little worried because she played with a neighbor's kid on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He had strep throat, but his mother told me he wasn't contagious anymore and was continuing taking his medicine. I called her doctor this afternoon and they told me that it sounds as though she has a upper respiratory cold and that children her age are not susceptible to getting strep throat. Well, unless one of the family members has it and none of us has it. So, the poor little thing just has to fight through this on her own. It's hard listening to her cough as she is sleeping at night. I am trying really hard not to get sick, too. It was only weeks ago when the whole family was sick and we were all really miserable.

Since I have been cleaning and organizing, I was able to unearth my spinning wheel from a pile of laundry (that just needed folding) and other junk. My craft area is in the corner of my bedroom, so lots of things end up getting piled in front of it. It has been a while since I spun anything, but it got addicting pretty fast. The above photo is a merino/bamboo roving that has been a dream to spin. That's one bobbin full and the rest will go on another bobbin for a 2 ply.

I spun this up many months ago, but I forgot to blog about it. It's the January 2009 colorway from Funky Carolina's Fiber Club. The color is called Boom and it's Superwash BFL fiber.
I spun it into a 2 ply, Worsted-Bulky weight, 108 yards.

I received this fiber as a birthday gift this year from a friend. Fiber Optic Yarns, 50% Superwash Merino & 50% Tencel. The colorway is called Limehouse Blues. This was my first successful attempt at Navajo-plying. My first skein was such a mess, I threw it away. I still need more practice, but this skein didn't come out too badly. My hand movements was much more fluid after I got the hang of it.It's Super Bulky and I only got 48 yards. Not sure what I can do with such little yardage, but it has been hanging up in my room for me to look at for the last few months.

A Ray of Sunshine

I started this shawl a little over 2 weeks ago during the never ending rain storms we kept having. It did practically rain for almost 2 weeks with a few days here and there that were sunny or at least not raining. Knitting this shawl ranked really high on the comfort knitting scale because of the garter stitch with simple increases and because of the color. On those dark and dreary days, picking up this shawl would lift my spirits up and bring a smile to my face. It is such a sunny and cheerful color. Even DH remarked about the delightful color when he saw me working on it.This was knit for a good friend's up coming birthday. She is going through some difficult times and I hope that this shawl will lift her spirits up every time she wears it or sees it. I see this as a comfort shawl. Something to drape over her shoulders when she curls up with a good book or maybe something to keep her warm on cold nights or chilly mornings.I knitted this while thinking about her and reflecting on our friendship over the years. It was very meditative. This shawl has a lot of good vibes and cheerfulness that I hope the recipient will feel. Maybe some people would think that I am asking too much from a shawl, but I believe in those things. I have seen the way a child would calm down as soon as she clutches her favorite blanket, so why can't a shawl bring comfort to someone?I had read reviews that this yarn has a tendency to worm because the yarn is spun around a core. Normally, I am a tight knitter, but for this I loosened my knitting and didn't have too much trouble. I only had to adjust the yarn every once in a while when the yarn loosened from the core. To make sure I had enough yarn, I knit 1.5 balls for the garter portion and then knit the pleated border with the other 1.5 balls. Even though I used less yarn than the pattern called for by making it smaller, it still turned out to be a good size.
Pattern: Mara Shawl by Madelinetosh
Needles: US 7/ 4.5 mm
Yarn: 3 skeins =447.0 yards of Debbie Mumm for Jo-Ann "Traditions", in the color: Bees Wax 13496

A very nice Sunday.

The whole family has been taking turns being sick for the last 2 weeks. DH fell ill first and was the one who brought the germs home. By the end of the week, Melody had a high fever. She recovered the next day and then it was my turn. I could not get out of the bed that whole weekend. The last time I was this sick, it was during the end of my pregnancy and I caught a cold that wouldn't go away.

This past week, Melody got sick again and it was a full on cold. Believe me, it was hard taking care of a sick child while I was sick also. We were both pretty miserable and the weather here has basically matched our moods. We have had more rainy days here in NYC than sunny.Mother's Day gave us some relief because it was a beautiful day. I woke up to Melody clutching a Mother's Day card and then DH surprised me with a beautiful necklace that he and Melody had secretly bought for me. On Saturday, he had taken her to the park so I could rest, but obviously they had more than one agenda. Those 2 were sneaky! I had admired that particular necklace 2 weeks ago and DH remembered.

Even though I was still suffering from a bad 3 day headache caused by sinus congestion, I knew some fresh air would do us all some good. So, we took her to the park and walked around the neighborhood.I made sure to bring my camera, so I could be in some pictures with my special girl. There has been way too little photos of me and her.She is growing up so fast, so I want to capture every moment. I think we look pretty happy for 2 people that were still sick. Unfortunately , she has been waking up in the middle of the night crying from the coughing. She is very congested and it's always worse at night. Some times it sounds like she is choking. Before we headed home, we stopped off at a new bakery in the neighborhood. They make beignets every day and that was the Mother's Day treat I wanted. Unfortunately, they didn't make any that day because of their increased cake orders for Mother's Day. So, I came home with these two beauties, Cannelés Bordelais. Little french cakes that are caramelized on the outside, but the inside is a soft custardy center. They are small and can fit in the palm of your hand, but they are a delicious little treat. After Melody went to bed that night, I had one of these with a cup of tea as my dessert. I saved the other one for DH's breakfast the next day. You can read more about them here.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I am almost back to 100% and Melody is about 90%.