the Akamai Knitter

I finally dug out the bin of laceweight yarn to start Lyra (Ravel it!). I originally planned on using cashmere, but I was way short on yardage. Instead, I settled on Jaggerspun Zephyr in black.

Although I’ve never finished a square or circular shawl, I’ve started a few of them. They’re very fiddly to begin wit, having only two stitches on each double-pointed needle. I found the easiest way for me to go about it is to use the Bellybutton Circular Start.

It’s not pretty. In fact it looks a little obscene. But it gets the job done.

I tried to get a better picture of my progress, but the stitches are dangerously close to falling off the needles.

I’m anxiously waiting on some 16″ circulars to arrive. I could have sworn I had a pair, but I can’t find them. I might try forging ahead with two or three circulars if the 16″ doesn’t soon. I’m just not a patient person.

One thing I tried and couldn’t get the hang of is Magic Loop. I think I just need more practice with that technique and I’d rather not risk messing up this project with something so new to me.

Look what came in the mail for me last week.

After blogging about Ed’s gorgeous spindles, I couldn’t resist snagging one for myself.  This is Petula from Tilt-A-Whorl Spindles.

To fully appreciate the gorgeous 3-D effect of his talent you have to see it from the side.

Not only does this spindle look fabulous, it spins like a dream. It’s heavier then what I’m used to in a spindle, but I’m really looking forward to using it.  For now, I’m content to just gaze upon it.

Happy Tuesday, people! Can you believe May is nearly here?

I took a custom class from The Bead Gallery on how to make better coils. Jamie came up with this design to help me practice my skills.

I don’t do many necklaces, but I had fun doing this one. I also made more bracelets this week  and they’re now up in the shop.

My hand is bothering from all the wirework I’ve been doing, so I need to give it a rest. Only I’ve become obsessed. My knitting is boring me. What I have on the wheel isn’t thrilling me. The spindles aggravate the hand so that’s not an option. The only thing that makes me happy is the shiny.

It’s a good thing I ran out of wire. Now I’ll be forced to take a break.

Well, I didn’t quite run out. I just don’t have any 16g Sterling Silver. I could work with something else.

Uh-oh.

Maybe I’ll start another knitting project instead. After all, it’ll be for a good cause. I’ll be saving my hand from heavy wire bending.

Uh-huh.

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a fantabulous weekend. :)

Now that I’ve started spindling again, I can’t seem to stop! Behold! The Quantum Spindle is naked no more.

I filled that spindle with one-third of CJ Kopec’s Just Because. It seems like it took me a week to do it. In reality, it took me about 3 days. Not bad, right?

I probably wouldn’t have spent so much time on it, but I had to stay away from the spinning wheel. I needed to rest my leg as it was went all wonk the weekend before last. It’s much better today so I’m going to try spinning at the wheel for about a half hour today.

Speaking of the wheel, here’s one of my latest skeins.

2-ply – 158 yards

100% Merino

4.4 oz – approx. 10WPI

fiber by CJ Kopec “Irish Morn”

I seem to be on a real CJ Kopec jag lately. Her fiber is just so lovely to spin. It’s soft and fluffy and drafts like cotton candy melts on the tongue.

Quincy seems rather annoyed that the weekend is over. I can’t say I blame him.

Luckily, there’s a new episode of The Tudors to watch. Yes, I finally succumbed to the lure of Showtime. Jonathon Rhys- Meyers? Here I come. ;-)

I’m still working on my Montana Moon socks. I ripped out the offending waffle rib and opted for a plain vanilla k2p2 rib. They’d probably be over and done with if not for the fact that I started something else.

Megan and I decided to knit Caricia together. Only I jumped the gun and started it about a week before she did. Some friend I am.  Although to be fair, I did put it aside for a few days after i started to let her catch up.

Don’t you love how it looks like ass? Here’s a bit of detail that doesn’t look too much like ass.

Just in case you’re wondering the yarn is from Dizzy Blonde Studios in the colorway Olivia. Nice stuff.

I probably would have been able to have gone all Cookie on Megan and smoked her to the finish line, only I’ve also been spindling. Now, I’m still chugging away on the Butterfly Girl batt.

Except another spindle is calling my name.

Wendy made me this spindle awhile back. Sadly, it’s still a virgin spindle, meaning it’s never been used. Never. So really, it needs fiber on it. Don’t you think?

I mean that’s the wonderful thing about spindles. You can have several different projects going on at once. Or should I say that’s the awful thing about spindles?

Hrm.

Speaking of spindles, have you heard of Tilt-A-Whorl? Ed has some serious spindle mojo going on. Check him out. I’ve got a serious lust on for the Flutterbies.

Robbyn complained mentioned how much she missed the kitty pr0n. So here’s a shot of Scheyer and Sammy bird-watching just for her. I can’t get over how big Sammy’s ass is. (He’s on the left.)

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading. :)

I finally blocked the Swallowtail Shawl! It finally dried! I finally took pictures of it! Only my evil camera insists the thing is purple and I’m too damned lazy to fiddle with it in photoshop. I did adjust them a bit with Picknik, but the true color of the yarn isn’t showing true. The yarn is very blue.  So the edging looks like it doesn’t match the rest of the shawl, but believe me it does.

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark (Ravel it!)

Needles: Size US 4 / 3.5 mm

Yarn: Mystery Yarn for the body; Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud for the edging in Stream Heather

Started: March 28, 2009

Finished: April 3, 2009

Except for the stress of running out of yarn, this was a fun knit. It was fast and easy. The nupps were easy to conquer.  All in all, I think I’ll be knitting another one of these babies.

And I’ve officially run out of steam…..

It was a long weekend, folks.

Happy Monday!