A cellphone beanbag chair!

Here is Lucy’s favorite new toy:

A tear strip from a box. Gotta love kitties!

Right before Christmas I put my Talisman Shawl pattern up for sale on Ravelry for $5.00 for a pdf download. Here is the direct link.

And I finished Ishbel. Here it is on Gwendolyn, shown draped over the Talisman Shawl, which is draped over my Exonumist’s Shawl:

A close-up:

And a floor shot:

I knit the larger size and used Dragonfly Fibers Dragon Sock in the Green Riptide colorway, on a U.S. 6 needle. It used about 1.5 skeins of the yarn. I didn’t wet-block it — just steamed it with my trusty steam-iron.

And I started something new.

Can you guess what it is?

Lucy sez:

“Now where is my tear-strip?”

I finished the Order to Chaos Shawl last night at approximately 7:30 pm.

I used approximately 1500 yards of fingering weight yarn and a US 5 (3.75mm) needle. Specifically, I used Dream in Color Smooshy, in the “Shiny Moss” colorway.

As is my wont, I blocked this baby by steaming the living daylights out of it with my steam iron. Apologies to those of you who requested a YouTube video of said steaming process. I was by myself when I did this so was unable to film it.

Well, Lucy was with me, but her lack of opposable thumbs makes her a lousy camera operator. That and the fact that she is easily distracted.

Anyhow, unblocked, this was about 48″ in diameter. Lightly blocked it measures 60″ in diameter.

I worked up an edging that was more orderly than chaotic, and I’m liking the results.

The pattern will be available for sale in the near future.

From time to time y’all comment on how brave I am to allow Lucy to lounge around on my knits. No bravery involved — Lucy is very much disinclined to do damage to knits.

For starters, she has no front claws. (She was declawed before she came to live with me). And she is a very dainty girl. She has many knitted toys, most of them filled with catnip, and she does not hurt those, either. Rather, she plays with them rather carefully and carries them around as if they were her dolls.

I did start a new lace project, using the yummy pink yarn I pictured in yesterday’s post. That’s the alpaca/shetland blend laceweight that Carol of Black Bunny Fibers gave me when I was in Philadelphia.

But I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Lucy sez:

“I want to know which among you were implying that I would harm Momma’s knitting.”

And may I just say that prednisone rocks? I’ve been taking pretty high doses of it this week (for the Viral Respiratory Crud That Would Not Die, Not Even With Masses of Antibiotics) and while I haven’t slept more than 2 hours/night for the past three nights, I did power-knit through what I consider the most arduous part of knitting a circular shawl . . . the edging.

(It’s interesting to me that while these meds make me very loopy and unable to walk in a straight line, they only enhance my knitting ability. Go figure.)

I will write up the pattern for this baby and offer it for sale. I may do so through the Ravelry Pattern Store, just to try it out. Stay tuned.

I knit the shawl on a US 4 (3.5mm needle) using 3 skeins of Ella Rae Lace Merino (more of a light fingering than a laceweight). My unblocked gauge was 5 st/inch. I used just under 1380 yards, but am conservatively estimating 1400 yards to knit the pattern.

The unblocked size is 45″ is diameter. Very lightly blocked (just using a steam iron) it is now 56″ in diameter.

So now I get to knit “full-time” on the Order to Chaos Shawl.

I’m using Dream in Color Smooshy for this, a fingering weight yarn, on US 5 (3.75mm) needles. If I am pleased with the results, I may sell this pattern as well.

Weekend Fun!

Tomorrow I am heading up to Philadelphia for a quick overnight trip. I’ll be at the lovely lovely yarn shop Loop for their Stitch Party tomorrow (July 24) from 5 – 8pm, then teach a couple of sock classes on Saturday. I visited Loop a few years ago when my first book came out and had a great time there, so I’m delighted to be going back.

Reminder — all scheduled events are listed on my Travel and Teaching page. Just this week, by the way, we added a trip to Knitty City in NYC in September. Knitty City is another great shop  I’ve visited in the past, so I’m delighted to have the opportunity to return.

I think there’s one tentative event in late November that hasn’t been finalized yet, but other than that, I think my schedule is full for the rest of the year.

Lucy Sez

“I must plan my catnip party since Momma’s gonna be away. This will be my party rug!”