Freeform Knitted Lace

Last week I received Myra Wood's new book, Crazy Lace, which is focused on freeform knitted lace. It's fabulous! If you like lace and freeform, give it a look. She is selling it from her website, www.myrawood.com. I've started 2 projects.






The yarn is Jojoland Melody, and I really like the way this one is turning out. I went ahead and blocked what I had finished over the weekend so that I could see how the lace was going to look. Since the yarn has a slow color change, I decided that knitting it on the diagonal would make a fun design in the scarf.

This last one is actually my first attempt at freeform knitted lace. It's a light worsted weight wool, spun and hand-dyed by Ellen Hall, my friend Carole's sister. I've had this yarn a long time, waiting for an interesting project. I like the yarn in knitted lace, I'm just not sure I like what I've done with it so far. It's entirely possible that I'll rip this out and start fresh.

another fun scarf....

I seem to be drawn to scarves the past couple of years. Here's the first one of this season, made from a pattern on Ravelry called "10 Fingers Scarf." Mine is made with Purple Mystery Malabrigo worsted.





The pattern is for a traditional long scarf, but I thought I'd get sick of making all those little nubbins (and I did!) so this one is a keyhole scarf. Put a slit in one end, slide the opposite end through it to wear, and the scarf can be shorter. Stays put, too.

Mitered magic

I find mitered square projects very enticing, and I've admired this particular design for a while. Margaret at Cozy made one a year or so ago, and I've thought about making one since I saw it. A quick trip through the purple bin of the stash, and I was on my way. Yesterday was cool enough to wear a wrap, while today is warm and sunny enough to get good photos of a wrap. Worked out pretty well!

baby gift

This adorable hoodie goes to Luke, son of my friends Tom and Sherry.

stash project

Yesterday I posted things from my knitting basket. Today's project lives upstairs, it's not very portable. The mitered square wrap is fun to do in lots of different yarns, so it lives on my bed and I work on it before I go to sleep. It's easy enough that I can avoid mistakes late at night, hehe.





It will have 3 squares and a fun edging--little fingers.

a couple of small projects

A few things to post.....first a fun Malabrigo scarf in Purple Mystery. The pattern is the 10 Fingers Scarf found on Ravelry.





And this sock is turning out well, it's the Sam Sock from Cookie A's Sock Innovation. Yummy Trekking yarn.....





That's what's in my knitting basket these days!

Girasole!

Yesterday the Girasole dried as it rested on my bedroom floor. I was pleased to find that I did not need to use pins, I just spread it out and the carpet held on. When I got home last night, it was ready. Can't wait to snuggle up under this during cool weather!

the last of the scrumbles

Since last July, I've been making scrumbles to send to fellow freeformers around the world. 21 members of the International Freeform Crochet Group on Yahoo joined this list, agreeing to make a piece of freeform crocheting and/or knitting for each member on the list. When we have all the pieces, the idea is to make a blanket.
There have been months that I worked steadily on the scrumbles, and months that I worked on other things instead. Last week I finished the last 3 scrumbles and tomorrow I will mail them out. That's a total of 21 pieces of freeform crochet and knitting---a lot!

I guess the next part of the project is to think about how I will assemble the scrumbles I've received. That may be a more time consuming project than making 21 scrumbles to mail out.

Here are the last 3 scrumbles. For each of them I made a magic ball: lengths of yarn tied together and rolled up into a ball. After I made the ball of yarn, I just started crocheting. No stopping and starting with these, no assembling little pieces of crochet. They're done with a "continuous" piece of yarn (well, it's continuous if you don't count the fact that I tied a bunch of cut of pieces together), which was a new challenge for me. Lots of fun, though.

freeform on the wall

Finally, the blanket is back and I found a hanger that works to mount it on the wall. I may replace this picture when I have a day with better light!

girasole

After seeing Jen's Girasole, I needed to make one. It's in Berroco's Ultra Alpaca and it's yummy. I'm about halfway through.....

progress on the scrumble exchange

I'm in the home stretch of the freeform scrumble exchange project. Over the past few weeks I've made these scrumbles, and only have 3 to go. Woohoo!



for Christy



for Helene



for Deborah



for Chris

there is life here......

And in the More Portable Projects category, I finished these socks last night. Just need to weave in the ends.



And in the Scrumble Exchange From Last Year That Isn't Finished Yet category, here are the scrumbles I finished last week and mailed out on Tuesday. This first one is for Kerri, who requested fiery colors.



And this one is going to Kathie, who made no particular color requests. I decided to use some favorites.

contest results!

Yesterday I got the results from the Vanna's Choice Contest, and my freeform baby blanket placed 3rd in the Baby Category! I'll receive a $100 gift card to Michael's by the end of the month. That gives me some time to think about what sort of goodies I'll be shopping for!

Here are some pictures of the blanket. I'm looking forward to getting it back and deciding what to do with it. It's a really good size for a wall hanging.....

malabrigo lace

Mmmmmalabrigo Lace, what a great yarn. I'm doing the Alpine Frost scarf from Interweave Crochet (a few issues ago), and it is a nice easy project. After blocking, the design opens up beautifully and looks snowflake-y.

sock knitting

Last month I started a couple of pairs of socks with yarns from Cozy. First, the Berroco Sox, a self-striping yarn that we'd had forever, but I had never tried it out. It's a simple toe-up sock with a short row heel, no official pattern. Here are some progress shots.





And the other pair is Malabrigo Sock yarn in the Velvet Grapes colorway. I'm doing the Waving Lace socks from Interweave's 25 Favorite Socks book. Fun pattern.

spiral pillow class

Last week I taught the last session of a 3 session spiral pillow class at Cozy in Durham. Mary, Tish, and Laura were in the class, and I have pictures of Mary's and Tish's pillows. Pictures of Laura's soon to come!







If you're interested in taking this class with me, I'll be teaching it at Yarnbirds in Raleigh in June. Come join us! If June is not good for you, watch for it to appear on the Cozy schedule sometime in the future. This is a fun one.

another scarf to save for cold weather

The bag of black Koigu KPPPM that I bought years ago through Great Yarns has dwindled a bit more. I used 3 or 4 skeins for a mini-Clapotis scarf, and finally finished it last week. This one will be so nice for cold pits and cool outdoor wedding gigs. It turned out very nicely.

malabrigo sock yarn...

....makes a great scarf! This was a perfect yarn for a Frilly Scarf.





I finished it just in time for warm weather. Oh well, I'll look forward to wearing it next year!

scrumbles mailed out

Though I haven't accomplished a lot of yarny projects in the past few months, these scrumbles were finished and mailed out to some of the ladies in the freeform scrumble exchange group. I'm a little more than halfway through the list!

blanket update

No pictures today, just an update on the Vanna White contest. I found out today that my freeform baby blanket (pictured in the last post) has advanced to the finals in the contest! I need to send it in for hands-on inspection and judging. I'm very excited!

contest entry

Sunday was the deadline for the Lion Brand Vanna's Choice contest, and I just slipped in under the wire. I finished the baby blanket Sunday morning, took pictures, and sent in the contest entry later that evening. The results will come out around May 1.

Here are photos of the finished blanket:

working with a deadline

It is not my preference to work with a deadline, but I went and entered a contest. Lion Brand is sponsoring a contest featuring Vanna's Choice yarns. I usually knit with a bigger variety of fibers, colors, and textures, but the contest called out to me somehow, and here I am, working on a blanket that has to be finished by Sunday.

Hopefully, it will be pretty cute when it's done. Here's where it stands today: