karen's knit in contemplation

happy new year

I found this hand-made lace in a thrift shop for five dollars.  Actually there were three of them, and I gave one away as a Christmas present to my good friend Robyn.  I may give her all three, to keep the set together. 

The stitches are so incredibly fine, it seems almost impossible to have been done by hand.  It is crocheted.  Click on the photo to get a closer look.

Maybe I will take one of these to Lacis and ask them to date it for me, as I don't have any of the skills even to guesstimate it.

I've posted it here today, because it just looks like some sort of perfect, idealized snowflake, pristine, refreshing, coming to us straight from heaven, just like the New Year.

Wishing you all the best in the New Year!

the slowest sleeve in history

This has to have been the slowest sleeve ever knitted.  I hope the second sleeve is going to go quicker.  For one thing, I would like to be wearing this sweater right now!  It's cold and I need a light but warm sweater around the house in the daytime.  Well, I look forward to the day this Jaeger Nevada mossy-green-heather vintage lambswool sweater is complete!

Hope you all have happy holidays - whichever ones you celebrate.  See you in the New Year!  (with or without complete sweater.)

lucy

For those of you who used to follow my blog and enjoyed my posts and photos about Lucy - I just wanted to let you know that Lucy passed away on Monday at 99.25 years, peacefully, in her home.  I will certainly miss her and her gardens. Spending time with Lucy was like being in a sanctuary of serenity.

By the way, I do intend to keep on blogging about knitting but my posts are fewer and further between, now that I'm not quite the 'knitting machine' that I was there for a while.  I think I just needed to integrate knitting back into my life after a long lull, and the blogosphere helped.  Thanks to all you knitting-bloggers out there who inspired me to get back to knitting, and also to get online with my own blogs. 

I've been plying away on my two current projects: the edging of the Baby Georgia Baby blanket, and the sleeves of my Mossy Green Nevada sweater.  Knitting has been taking a back seat to writing, researching and playing the dulcimer.  We had a very huge Thanksgiving event here, but now as we move toward the solstice, things will be quieting down and I'll probably have lots of opportunities to pass the hours of solitude with knitting.

it's a match

I found this (upper) at our new local shop, K2TOG, on Solano Avenue in Albany.  It's Crystal's Palace's Panda Cotton, 55% bamboo, 24% cotton, 21% nylon.  The color is practically a perfect match to their previous Baby Georgia (lower), so I guess that makes sense since it's the same company. Everyone always admires the color. I'll post a sample soon of the other substitute I found that looked harsh by comparison.  This really is a nice sunshiney light yellow. The texture is really soft and nice for a baby, too, nicer than plain cotton for a baby blanket or baby clothes, I'd say.  It's very easy to work with too, and doesn't need as much tugging as cotton.  Knits more like wool.

laid back knitting

We've been laying around on the job, as you can see here, and that's why there has been no knitting news for so long.

Actually, I have been knitting the green-marl sweater - and loving it! - and am beginning the first sleeve as we speak, while listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on CD.  Yes, I'm a bit late finding out how the great series ends, but I'm taking my time with it, and only listen in the evenings, while knitting.  Don't tell me the ending! I want to find out for myself.

As far as my yellow Baby Georgia leaf-and-acorn lace border is concerned, I feel like my hands are tied!  And it isn't comfortable.  None of the substitute yarns I've bought really matches - they all look different in different light, and I'm highly aggravated.  If anyone out there has one or two unwanted skeins, or even part of a skein, of Crystal Palace Baby Georgia 'Butter' color, please sell it to me!

knit separate button border

I like the way this Jaeger pattern knits up the button border separately.  This really gives the opportunity to get the buttonholes placed correctly for YOU, and if they're not quite right the first go-round, it is not such a daunting task to re-do them!

I have thoroughly enjoyed knitting this pattern, I think partly because I enjoy this vintage yarn so much.  I've begun the right front already and have finished the decorative waistband and completed the first pattern repeat.  So left front and back are finished, and then just the sleeves to knit up.

mirror-image

mossy sweater

Here's the start of the left front, with the buttonhole border on a stitch-holder, to be knitted up later on smaller needles.  I love the overall lacy look of this cabled sweater - although it looks more 'mossy' in this photo than in real life - when it's stretched, there's a lot of open space in it, just because I'm using laceweight yarn, and knitting it in the largest size.

Well, it's cold and foggy here again, but we did have a few beautifully sunny days, my husband returned from the mountains, and I attended a seminar on the Five Elements in Chinese Medicine over the weekend with Elisabeth Rochat de Vallee.  She is a person of heart, and makes the lecture thoroughly delightful as well as informative - she's a wealth of knowledge about the chinese characters and also chinese cultural history especially in relation to medicine.

Here's Bela again in one of his new favorite spots.


Ah, and today I can return to writing my novel!