Hey y’all — this is just a quickie post to let you know that the pattern for the Japanese Garden Shawl is now available for sale in my Ravelry store for $5.00.

As I mentioned yesterday, through the end of next month I will be donating 100% of my proceeds from this pattern to the American Red Cross for their disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and the tsunami throughout the Pacific.

Thanks for considering buying it, and thanks to those of you who already discovered and bought it.

Don’t feel like knitting a lace shawl? Please consider buying the pattern for this gorgeous quilt-inspired blanket. The designer, the lovely and generous Kay Gardiner of Mason-Dixon Knitting, is donating all proceeds from the sale of downloads of this pattern to Mercy Corps. In 2011, these donations will be designated for Japan earthquake/tsunami relief, and thereafter to support Mercy Corps’ relief work.

Lucy is quite overcome by the excitement of it all and is heading off for a nap.

I blocked my latest shawl yesterday morning.

Blocked, it measures approximately 64″ across the top edge and 32″ down the center back.

I knit this from 2 skeins plus a few yards from a third skein of Alchemy Juniper, so I’ve slightly over-estimated and am stating that you need 500 yards. So you could knit this from one skein of Wollmeise sock yarn.

It is knit from the bottom up, so you start with lots of stitches and work down to just one stitch on the needle. I used a U.S. size 5 needle for an unblocked gauge of 5 sts/inch in stockinette stitch, but cast on with a needle 3 sizes larger to ensure a nice stretchy edge.

It’s easy to make the shawl larger or smaller by adding/removing pattern repeats and this is explained in the pattern.

I cast on this shawl the day after the earthquake and tsunami that has devastated Japan, so was thinking about those tragic events while knitting. I’m calling the pattern “Japanese Garden,” and when I put the pattern up for sale in my Ravelry store this week (should just be a couple of days before the pattern is ready — I’ll let you know when it’s ready) I will donate all my proceeds (after Paypal takes its cut)  from this pattern’s sale to the American Red Cross for their disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific, for all sales of this pattern through the end of April 2011.

My new project is indeed being knit from Sea Silk — in the Moss colorway:

It’s lace.

Lucy sez:

“Yes. I’m cross-eyed!”

It was very close. I almost got the whole shawl knit from 2 skeins of Alchemy Juniper. But I had to dip into the third skein at the very end — to the tune of less than 1 gram of yarn!

So I am estimating that this baby takes approximately 500 yards. The unblocked measurements are 44″ along the top and 23″ down the center back. Blocked measurements — well, I’ll know those after I block this. Blocking may occur this evening, or I may wait until the weekend. We’ll see. More likely this weekend as I have other things to do tonight.

It took me 6 days to knit this, which is pretty darn fast for me. Judging from the yardage I used, this is bigger than most of my shawlette patterns but took me way less time to knit. I guess I like knitting from the bottom up.

Now I need to wind this for the next project . . .

Winners!

Congratulations to Kat, Cyndee, and Beth C. who have each won a knitter’s eye chart in my drawing. I have emailed you three. Thanks to everyone who left a comment and thanks to Firefly for donating the prizes.

Lucy sez:

“I’m ready to help with the blocking!”

If your name is Caesar, beware today.

My new project is (surprise, surprise) a shawl, and as you could probably tell from the photo in my last blog post, it is knit from the bottom up.

There’s a lot going on in that photo — Lucy is inspecting my work and you can see a bit of my Loopy Ewe knitting bag.

I am using Alchemy Juniper in the “Topaz” colorway on a U.S. size 5 needle. I do love Alchemy Juniper. It’s a fingering weight yarn, but is on the fine side of fingering weight, so it behaves like a heavy laceweight. And it is so soft.

Knitting a shawl from the bottom up means you have some seriously long rows at the start. But the good news is that they keep getting shorter.

I am well into my second skein of Juniper here. Each skein is 232 yards, and I purchased three of them (from The Loopy Ewe). I’m not sure yet if I’ll have to crack open the third skein. The suspense is killing me!

Lucy too.

She’d be on the edge of her seat but she’s too comfy to move.

You guys are lucky that I have such awesome friends who send me stuff to give away to you!

The winner of Rachael Herron’s How to Knit a Heart Back Home is Rachael! No, a different Rachael.

Rachael, I’ve emailed you!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment to be entered into the drawing.

And now on to Awesome Friend Number Two: Firefly. Here is what Firefly sent me:

Knitters’ eye charts! How cool are those??!!

Firefly talked about these on her blog, here. (That blog post is worth clicking through to, because she also shares the ingredient list for a very yummy-sounding for split pea soup! The recipe itself is here.)

These charts are available for sale in Firefly’s etsy shop and are a collaboration between her and her son (who has his own etsy shop here). There are three different charts — one taken from a lace pattern, one from a cable pattern, and one with various knitting abbreviations. They are printed on heavy 11×17 stock and can be framed, like this one:

I have one each of the three styles to give away. Who’d like one?

To be entered in the drawing, leave a comment to this blog post, by 4:00pm Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, March 17, 2011. Three winners will be chosen at random at that time.

On to the Knitting

Look what I finished!

Look what I started!

More on the new project on Tuesday.

I Hate Daylight Savings Time

But it doesn’t seem to have affected Lucy’s schedule.