Where the heck have I been???

Four months later and my grand son is a blooming 15 pounds plus not bad considering his size at birth.
I am back to work full time and let me tell you THAT took some getting used to. More about that later.
In an effort to rein in my shattered concentration I have joined the Delusional Knitter's call to "War on WIP"
Here follows my dastardly mess: In no particular order...

Limerick shawl

Marc's bear claw sweater

I have knit this front about three times and keep ripping it back the claws looked arthritic to me..dam.

I have a lot of grafting to do before I can move on

 

Feyrhi's Wings silk beaded shawl

In my defense I have finished up the following in the last four months:

baby kimono jacket with Knitman's hand dyed

crochet star baby blanket

Back to confession time......the following await attention

Adult tomten jacket

Aran coat

double knitted scarf 548 rows... I am on row 16

Oh yes and I just bought some chunky "Dreams" for a winter all in one for the new baby and 3 colours of DK for a fair isle vest for baby Logan and some Snuggly DK for a small reversible baby blanket...
...and... I have a baby sleep sack on the needles, no picture.
So there we go. I think that is everything. Now let's see what I can finish by Labour Day. Stay tuned!

The saga of the blanket...

It's a tough world out there! Logan Gabriel

It has been a very active two weeks. My grandson made a premature arrival on March 20th. All 3 pounds 12 ounces of him. For a detailed saga of the blanket's construction, deconstruction, redesign and final completion please pop over to Ravelry and check out 'Logans baby blanket" in my projects. Oh, my ravelry name has changed to "Susanlacewing." There was another Susanknits (I was Suzanknits) and it was confusing so I changed my moniker.

Brittany and "The" blanket

I took the blanket to the NICU yesterday and we got this picture.This is as close as he is going to get to it for a while. We took it off after the picture taking and put the dark cover back on.

My baby boy and his Baby Boy

Star baby blanket

This fall we are expecting another grandchild!! and a playmate for Logan. I am going to get the new baby's blanket done in plenty of time!. Meanwhile I haven't got a stitch knit on my In Dreams KAL since Logan's arrival. Now that he is doing so well my concentration should have returned.

Crochet time

I started this, ohhhh, probably 8 years ago..sheesh Now I am finishing it for my new Grandbaby. It is wonderful yarn. Sirdar Denim Tweed DK. Of course now I am in a panic that I will run out. Some of these colours have been discontinued. I sent out about 10 emails on Ravely begging to buy or trade whenever I found any of these colours in someone''s stash. So far I have heard from 2 people. Keeping the good thought here.

I am one row away from the half way point. This is my TV watching project. This yarn is the best, it is a cotton acrylic wool blend that loves the washer and will tolerate the dryer as long as you don't cook it.

At present I have 4 lace shawls on the go and I am lusting after another. Mario Knits pattern "Spanish Armada." Five is the max (really) and then I have to finish one (believe me) before I can start another. Non knitter's do not understand the concept of having more than one project at a time. If I get tired of one or it becomes difficult I switch to the easy one for a respite. Then when refreshed I go back to the challenging one. Makes sense to me. Same reason why I read more than one book at a time.

 This is my "Icarus Shawl." I am almost finished the second wing. Intriguing knit I must say. Look for the pattern on Ravelry by  the name "In The Pink" by Izzyknits.

Feyrhi's Wings Shawl

 Clue #1 finished. Susan Pandorf's Lord of the Rings "In Dreams" KAL on Ravelry

Creating a Plush Teddy Bear...Step One

tracing the pattern

 When the children were young and I was a stay at home Mom I had a craft business called "Thimble Enterprises." I used to go to Craft Shows in southern Ontario At one point my hand made teddys, bunnies,squirrels etc were sold in stores in Windsor and Leamington Ontario. 

It is important to cut the backing NOT the pile.

My youngest used to sit by my feet while I was sewing. He would drive his hot wheel cars around the shelf at the bottom of the sewing machine stand. He will be a Papa in May and I asked him if he would like a bear for his son.

the seams will be hidden by the long pile at the edge.

 He quickly said, "Yes." This pattern is named after my dad. "Grampy Bear" is an original Thimble Enterprises design and came with glasses, a pipe and dressed in a tweed vest with a watch chain. Sorry no pictures of the original.

tedious job cutting out each piece

 I sold these bears as gifts for Executive's. They were very popular. 

Still have to cut a contrast for the paws, and probably will use a contrast for the inner ear, instead of the pile

 All cut out and ready to be sewn. He has a head gusset, which is tricky but makes a lovely shaped head. The body is in four parts. I will have to make him a satin heart to sew inside. He will be fully jointed with a hand crafted leather nose.

Much better picture of the actual colour of the pile. My hand is sore from all that cutting so I will take a break. Next step sewing up all the bits.
Back to lace knitting for a rest.

Finished!

...the Hurry Up Loopy Sweater. I don't know if I like it more because it is finished or  because it looks so cute on the doll.
Peter Pan DK, 4 balls, 3.25MM needle.

- Baby is due Mar 11th. whew got it finished in time. Will mail this out tomorrow.

Recent Projects

The mobius baskets are fun to knit. I used the Freedom wool with a strand of eyelash to create a shopping bag, now will be felted and shrunk to form small baskets. Five were made using every last bit of the wool that has now been discontinued.
The Diagonal Border Cardigan is being knit for mum. Using the smaller size needle through out the whole sweater, has been a lot easier and a nicer finish for this single plied wool.

I received some Philosophers Wool from mum and started making this Cape Plaid designed cardigan. I am going to make the body of the sweater long, with a long sleeve. This picture doesn't show the heathers or natural colours of the wool. My background colour is a blend emerald and aqua, the other colours navy, purple, bluegrass and burgundy heathers, are much more vibrant.

~Daughter #2

Knitting or rather..not

Well, we are back from the sunny Dominican and I have to tell you I am a hot house flower. I bloomed while we were there and detect a distinct wilting since we got home.
I experienced every knitters worst nightmare. Two thousand plus miles from home and I have the wrong sized knitting needle! I had to medicate myself with 30 degree (Celsius) sunshine, white sand and a delicious beverage called a "Silver Clark." After all this was my holiday and I had looked forward to trying out a new lace pattern from "Wrapped in Lace.". Not so fellow knitters. The needle was too fine.
I kept trying as if the needle would have swollen in the sunshine..sigh ... I gave up and went to the pool bar, which by the way was behind a little waterfall. It's hard to see but trust me there is water falling in front of the bar.

Before we left I managed to finish and block the aforementioned slouch hat. Finally a gift finished in advance of the occasion.

Susan Pandorf, one of my favourite designers, has a new KAL, IN DREAMS, starting next week. It is in her Lord of the Ring series. I have been haunting the LOTR group on Ravelry. There are so many beautiful knitters out there. Ravelry is a wonderful place to chat with people who understand your passion. Last June I bought some of Blue Moon Fibers Silk Thread II for the Evenstar project. Everyone was so far into the project I fizzled and the silk has languished in the cedar chest. That is until Thursday night when I whipped up this swatch on a 3mm needle.

 I fear it is a pinch too small so I am doing another one with a 3.25mm. As the luck of the Irish would have it the ocean green beads are a perfect match to the blue green highlights in this colour way. Which by the by is called "Thraven." The In Dreams KAL has 5000 beads. That alone means I have to knit this. Susan P is making hers with Unique Sheep's Eos in their "unique" gradiance colour treatment. Unique sheep also offer  a 100% silk lace yarn called Marici. AND Laura will custom dye a colour way for you. You do see where this is going don't you? It all started with a colour way called "Galadriel's Crown" and ended up with "Feyrhi Wings"

Yup, that's mine and I named it. Too yummy for words. Now I have to find beads.
Then I went to Earthfaire to look for beads. I usually deal with Bead FX online but heard so much about Earthfaire I went to check them out. It turns out that they have exclusive colour ways from Unique Sheep.
Cue the drama music.
In March Unique Sheep has a KAL starting.  The Little Mermaid KAL and Earthfaire has this colourway called Dragon Fire....and they have the whole deal, sign up, beads, yarn ... you get the idea.
O.K. right moving on.
Julia and I spent a day Spinning.

 I am so rusty I can't believe it, well, yes I can. It is like riding a bike, a little wobbly but smoothing out. I plan on doing more today. Julia took to it like she should have with all those nice fibre genes in her DNA.

She took the Ashford home and tells me she has filled two bobbins and is ready for plying. Her stool was a little too low at picture taking but she got the right height chair when she got home. Now we need a niddy noddy.
It is snowing out there..yukky