I have completed my Lintilla and here it is.

I knit this from one 140-gram skein of Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 in the “EK” colorway on a U.S. size 3 (3.25mm) needle.

I did a total of 40 ruffles: 21 as I knit the body pattern and 19 for the edging pattern. It measures about 54″ along the straight edge

You can get a pretty good idea of how this shawl is constructed because of the shading of the Kauni yarn.

Because the ruffles are knit differently, they look different along the two edges. The ones knit as part of the body have the plain rows in-between knit 1 for each body row. The ones knit for the edging pattern have the plain rows in-between attached to the body every other row, so that part, of course, looks “rufflier.” Because I am a fan of symmetry, this mildly annoys me.

I attempted to take a pre-blocking photo to show how ruffly it is along one side, but Lucy had other ideas.

She fits nicely into the curve of it, doesn’t she?

I steam-blocked the heck out of the piece in an attempt to smooth out the over-rufflyness of the edging. That worked a bit. Here it is on Gwendolyn:

Anyway, there you have it. Looking at the projects on Ravelry, it appears that this does not bother anyone else, or if it does, they kept it to themselves.

It is an appropriately green project to have completed on St. Patrick’s Day.

Basil was looking appropriate for the day as well.

Lucy was busy mountain-climbing this weekend.

And I was busy documenting her activities.

A few years ago Nicky Epstein came out with a book about felting called Knitting Never Felt Better. (Cute title, no?)

I got a review copy of it in the mail the other day, with a notice that it will be coming out in paperback on April 3. Amazon appears to already have it in stock, however.

Anyhow, I had not seen it when it first came out in hardback, so took a look through it this week. What a great, creative book. Apart from having a number of patterns for felted projects, there are many knitted and felted swatches of different stitch patterns that are photographed before and after felting.

Cute baby booties project!

Stitch patterns with before and after felting pix!

And a lot of really creative ideas for things to do to your knitted fabric to create interesting felted textures.

Using different nuts to create different textures in your felted pieces = genius.

Any felting nuts out there? (Sorry about that pun.)

To be entered in a drawing to receive my copy of this hardcover book, please leave a comment to this post letting me know that you’d like the book. Puns about felting and nuts are optional.

Leave a comment by noon Eastern time on Tuesday March 20 (the Vernal Equinox). I’ll draw a winner and announce same in Tuesday’s blog post.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I am knitting along on Lintilla. See?

I don’t think I’m quite at the halfway point yet, but I’m getting there.

And here is a shockingly unflattering picture of Miss Lucy:

What you can’t see is that her water bowl is just around the corner and she’s having a drink.

. . . you are correct!

I am knitting Lintilla from Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 in the “EK” (greens) colorway. I have a 140-gram skein, purchased from The Loopy Ewe.

The photo above is from Sunday, but I haven’t done much knitting since then. But here is an artfully arranged photo of Lintilla that I took today:

I am using a U.S. size 3 (3.25mm) needle.This is the size I used for Zuni. and for the Swiss Cheese scarf. These are all made with basically the same yarn in garter stitch and with my gauge a size 3 gives me a nice fabric. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Lucy is all tuckered out from her recent mountain-climbing activities.

I finished my Zuni Shawl yesterday morning. Here it is:

I steamed this rather than blocking it out. I did two extra repeats on each side of the center and have ended up with a shawl that has a 56″ wingspan and measures 21″ down the center back.

This time I remembered to weigh my skein before I started knitting, so was able to use as much of my yarn as possible. Here’s what I had left:

I had 18 grams of my 160-gram skein of Aade Lõng Artistic 8/2 left over. I knit this piece on a U.S. size 3 (3.25mm) needle. It’s an easy knit — you need only know how to knit, purl, bind off, and cast on stitches at the end of a row (via a cable cast-on, for example). Oh, and you have to be able to count.

The pattern, available here, is very well-written and easy to follow. It is completely written out (no charts — none are really needed).

I’d say an adventuresome beginner could knit this without difficulty.

After finished Zuni, I started knitting a two-color design, but simply was not feeling the love. I didn’t like the way it was turning out when I knit it as written, so I ripped back and tried several variations before deciding it was not to be.

So I started knitting something else. Here’s the start of it:

Can you guess what this is?

Meanwhile, Lucy is considering making a leap.

I am now a bit more than half done with Zuni.

I did a couple of extra repeats before starting the center section (weighing my skein of yarn as I went along). It’s easy to add repeats because the pattern is geometric and easy to follow. Here’s a close-up of the edge on the right side:

And the edge from the wrong side:

I think it looks nice from the wrong side as well as the right side — slightly more subtle.

I have hopes of completing this over the weekend. It is a very fun knit!

I will then start a two-color project using a Kauni solid and a Kauni variegated.

eBook Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for the fabulous Fleegle Spins Supported. The winner has been chosen at random and it is Lynn Z. Lynn has been emailed.

Lucy the Mountain Climber

Several of you wondered how Lucy was able to climb so high (see photo in my last blog entry). This is how she gets up there:

It is still a fair leap from the back of the chair to the top of the bookcase.

How does she get down? I pull out a step stool and climb up to retrieve her when she starts looking like she is going to jump from the top of the bookcase down to the floor. It doesn’t seem to occur to her to come down the way she got up.

“I just like to let Momma feel useful.”