La Vie, C'est Belle!

Look what we woke up to this New Year's Eve morning:


Isn't it beautiful? Of course, I might have a different attitude if I had to go to work today. But since I don't, I'm free to stay inside and marvel at the view.

I hope your New Year is filled with creativity and joy. Whether you work it from the outside in . . .

Sunflower Tam, from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature
Yarn: cream-colored Cascade 220, overdyed red

Or from the inside out . . .

Doily-Style Dishcloth, from the Dishcloth Boutique
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport, cream

. . . may you hold on to your center in 2008!

A very Happy New Year to you and yours from me . . .

Miss Ida . . .

and all the hungry wildlife on North East Street . . .

A Study in Contrasts

Yesterday morning, we had sunshine. Lots of it! So I took the opportunity to shoot some pictures of my newest FO, a scarf called Jyri from Berroco's Norah Gaughan Collection, vol. 1. The yarn is a superwash sportweight merino from Lisa Souza. It was originally a variegated gold; I overdyed it with cherry and strawberry Kool-Aid to get a warm red.

My sister Betsey once said a girl can never have too many scarves, and I agree with her wholeheartedly. But now that I've finished my second Norah Gaughan scarf (the Triangle Scarf from Knitting Nature was the first), I'd also say, a girl can never have too many Norah Gaughan scarves. I love the spiraling "bumps" of this one. Its 3-D quality is a nice change from flat scarves.

The sunshine's all gone today. During the night we got about 7 more inches of snow, and now there's freezing rain/sleet/general dreary mess coming down. My neighbors and I have tossed out food for the wild turkeys and, having had their breakfast, the poor guys are now simply standing motionless in the backyard. It's weird to see them so still, since normally they are constantly moving. I guess they are conserving their energy.

Between this dreary weather and the cold I'm developing (just had to pause to sneeze three times!), I'm so glad I have nowhere to go today. Stay safe and warm, everyone!

Pretty Little Thing

My reward for all the lace knitting I've finished lately? More lace knitting! Just for fun, this morning I made myself this lovely little washcloth, which I'd seen in someone's projects on Ravelry.

If you need to make a quick and easy gift, you can't go wrong with this, especially if you pair it with a special bar of soap. It took all of a couple of hours, and less than 75 yards of worsted-weight cotton (Knit Picks Shine in Snapdragon). The pattern, called the Doily Style Dishcloth, is available for free at the Dishcloth Boutique.

Emily's Firmaments Shawl, Part II

My sister Betsey not only helped me install my show at Kingston Gallery today, she also graciously modeled the Emily's Firmaments shawl before we pinned it to the gallery wall. Unfortunately, it was about 20 degrees F today, so we only took pictures indoors.

By the way, Betsey crocheted that cool scarf she's wearing. You can see more of her wonderful fiber work on her blog.

Thanks again for all your help, Betsey!

The Pi Shawl Formerly Known as the Big Blue Blob

With the help of water and T-pins, my big blue ugly duckling has been transformed:

And here it is before blocking:

I'm pretty happy with it, all in all. I may fine tune the design a bit, nothing major. The middle Starlight Lace sectionsort of flattens out as it approaches the Fountain Lace section, and I think that's because the Starlight Lace varies in the stitch count--some rows have fewer stitches than others. It might look better to replace the last repeat of the Starlight Lace with a few rounds of plain stockinette before beginning the Fountain Lace.

If I hadn't been on deadline and needed to get this thing finished by today, I would also have made it slightly bigger by knitting one more repeat of the Fountain Lace.

Edited to add a little later:

I was looking at it somewhat critically until I unpinned it and ran upstairs to the bathroom mirror to try it on. And then I fell in love. The Zephyr has such beautiful drape! The edging, which I was unsure about, is perfect. The size is just right. The Starlight Lace is just fine. It's elegant, it's warm but light. This is the most beautiful thing I've ever knit.

Pictures of the shawl modeled, hopefully in sunlight, coming soon!