My Tunisian Crochet Shawl

 Tonight I am working on a one of a kind shawl for myself.  With the work I did tonight, I have enough of the next section done to show off a little bit of the silk.  The orange and green silk work well together.  The orange and green combination helps bring out the color of the gold Llama yarn.  

You might have noticed that I filled in the corners using some of the techniques that I learned in the Tunisian hat class.  I have still not finished that hat yet.  I am getting closer.  I just have to be at full spoons to work on that project.  

Since I am giving myself some grace, I will not be writing a pattern for this shawl for many reasons.  The first being that I have not kept notes on the project as I have been working on it. The second being that this is a stash dive project, all the yarn in the project has been discontinued.  Third, I just don’t have the spoons to do the hours of back end work to get a pattern out.  Forth and foremost is that I wants one of a kind pice of wearable art that no one expect me has.  This is the artist in me speaking out.  Last but not least is that I am using some of the most expensive yarn in my stash for this project. I am at least $150 USD in and I am only halfway through.  I like to make my patterns affordable and this one is in the I am not affordable for the majority of knitters.  

So it’s time to take a peak.   

A Cacophony of Scarfs

 A decision has been made to use all the yarn in the Bye-Bye project bag for one of a kind scarfs for a local children’s clothing bank.  Each one will be different.  I have 2 completed.  I have one that I am doing the finishing work on.  I have also picked out the next warp color for scarf number 4.  

Below is a look at the yarn I will be using. You might see a pile of odds and ends, but I see an endless cacophony of scarves. As it is still easier to weave and spin rather than knit, I suspect that I will have a whole bunch of scarfs done by the holidays.  I wonder if I will be able to fill the Bye-Bye project bag with hand woven scarfs.  It is a very good goal in my humble opinion.  

It’s Finally Finished for the Second Time

 About 10 years ago I finished a one of a kind shawl with the mohair spun by Kathy Withers.  I did not have a chance ro wear it before one of Eric’s aides took a scissors to the beautiful lace. Less than 24 hours after completing the shawl. It was placed in a canvas shopping bag to wait the needed repairs.  In his opinion all I was allowed to knit in my own home was hand knit items for kids in need.  This was the first but not the last thing he cut up or outright stole.  

Well he is long gone. 

Fast forward a few years and I could not get anyone to mend it for me. No matter how much I was willing to pay. I did however get some pointers.  I was really scared that I would ruin it.  

Fast forward to today.  I finally got the nerve to do the repair on this hand spun mohair lace yarn spun by Kathy Withers’s and a pattern designed by me.  Really I just wanted to clear my backlog of repairs, UFO’s and long ago purchased projects.  I pick out the right shade of thread. I did not have any yarn leftover, let’s just say I won at yarn chicken. I secured the thread and trimmed the end. I started weaving everything together. I was so tense that my shoulders throbbed. I carefully did tiny French Knots to gather the tiny clipped yarn. I did the final thread tie off and clipped the excess thread.  

Tomorrow it will get washed in Soak. Then blocked. It should be ready to wear this weekend. 

Below is a picture of the repair work.  The picture below that is halfway through the repair work. I know it’s not perfect. I did my best.  You can also not see it from 5 feet away, which is my gold standard for knitting boo boo’s.