Dotted Rays In Progress

I am not finished yet with my Dotted Rays Shawl.  I cannot believe I still have another section to go.  As much as I am going to love this when it is done, I am so ready to move onto something new.

But, until then, here is the progression so far.

Friday Finds

I wanted to share a book that I recently heard about on a podcast and then had to buy the hardcover version.   When I shared it on Instagram, Chris from Briar Rose Fibers commented that she has several samples from the book that had been knit out of her yarns.

The book put out by Quince and Co is all about triangle shawls, but not just your ordinary  shawl.  There are top down, bottom up,  and side ways triangle shawls.  The book has lots of useful information as well, the tab cast on, increases and decreases , and a stretch bind off.

The shawls are elegant and soft looking.  There is texture and lace patterns, and I may steal some the charts to add to hospice or Faroese shawl borders.

I ordered mine directly from Quince and Co, because I like a hard copy of books, but I also got the download version that I can save to my iBooks, if I want to print off the chart or pattern for just one.  The download comes right after purchase to your email so you can start knitting right away, if you choose, but I waited, because I wanted to savor the book itself.

I am totally looking forward to casting on some for Summer of Shawls.

I give this book two 👍 👍 up!

Hospice

Today would have been our Hospice Prayer Shawl meeting.  I really missed it.  It is two times a month to get together with friends at knit for our local Hospice.  It is so calming, and after a meeting, I walk away with such a sense of peace and ready to tackle the world, aka work right now.

But, with what is going on in the world today, we had to forgo this week.  I am ever hopeful by the next time, we will be able to get together, but, I am afraid that may not happen.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some Hospice Prayer Shawls I am working on.

I needed a simple cast on to work on, so a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that I had a pretty good skein of 4th of July from Briar Rose Fibers left from my Weekender.  I found a pattern in my folder of Hospice shawls, called the Raglan Shawl Recipe.  Straight stockinette with raglan increases that end with a bit of lace at the end.

I will knit on it til I run out of yarn, and will have used all of the leftovers of this yarn up.

An ongoing project for sometime for Hospice has been The Kimono Shawl from one of my favorite books, Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle.  This is going to be a wrap and is not a super quick pattern, but I am having some fun with it, this week.   The yarn is Rylie by Hikoo, and is a nice yarn to work with and well, I don't knit a whole lot of purple, but certainly is fun to switch it up every once in a while.

Knitting at home is not the same as knitting with the Hospice Ladies, but when we all get back, hopefully, in the next month or so, we will have so many nice donations for the Home as well as stories to tell about our knitting through shelter at home.

I hope and pray for all you dear knitters that you are well and knitting something fun during this time.

Knit on with confidence and hope!

Wednesday Website

During these times of knitting festivals being cancelled, shops having to close, I am taking this opportunity to share with you dear blog readers some of my favorite small knitting related businesses that I want to call your attention to.

Feel free to support them if you so desire and send them some love.

First up, is Briar Rose Fibers.   Click https://www.briarrosefibers.net  to see all of her fantastic yarns.

 I first met Chris, the dyer and owner at Meg Swansen's knitting camp many years back.  Right from the get go, I loved her yarns.  So many bases in so many lovely earthy colors.  And from that first meeting at camp, I found out just how generous and kind she was.

Recently, Chris donated yarns for our Peoria Hospice Prayer Shawl Group.  Everyone was so appreciative of her gift and I cannot wait to see what shawls and blankets become of them.

I have used several of her yarns in garments for myself and a cowl for our Girls' Holiday Bash last December.  I ❤️ them all, but I have to say my all time fave is Wistful, but 4th of July seems to be a close second.

Cusco by Cheryl Oberle out of Wistful

 Summer Solstice by Heidi Kirrmaier out of Wistful

The cowl for the Holiday Bash, which was also a big swatch out of 4th of July

for The Weekender by Andrea Mowry

And 4th of July is next up for Night Shift by Andrea Mowry

But, I cannot leave off Briar Rose Fibers Sea Pearl with a bit of shine to it that I knit my Pavement sweater out of on my trip to and from Florida a couple of years back.

Oh this isn't all of the things I have knit with Briar Rose Fibers yarn, and not all of my stash from Chris, but, stay tuned this Spring and Summer to see more.

In the mean time, I hope you will scoot on over to her website and check her yarns out!

Knit on with confidence and hope through all crisis - Elizabeth Zimmermann

Episode 39

In case you are bored to tears, and need something to watch, while we wait for sun to shine (at least here in Central Illinois), a new episode of PJKnits can be found on You Tube  here!

Show notes in a couple of days right here.

Finally Finished Friday

Not much to report, but a cowl out of some fun yarn.  Just around and around.

It is my one and only entry for ZK, I am on Team Unicorn, hence the fun Unicorn pics.

Hope you have a good weekend, getting back to the basics and doing lots of knitting.

Edit- I finished a dishcloth for one of my staff today.  She loves these things, and I thought it was the least I could do for her, since she is considered "essential" staff and has to keep working at least for now.

How Ya Doin?

So many lyrics to songs come to mind, while we weather this virus thingy, practicing social distancing, working remotely, drive thru only --

But, in the mean time, I have been doing some support of independent knitting businesses and will have lots to show you in the coming days.

I am, also, so excited to share with you my spare bed of Spring/Summer projects, which after looking at a blog post from last year, not much has changed, except that I have added some new projects to the queue during this time.

I hope you are all well, and stay tuned for future blog posts.

And direct from EZ - lets keep this in our minds.

Knit on with confidence and hope through all crises.

Happy St Patricks Day

Not Really Spring Yet

Ok, so I was optimistic about Spring.  We are getting a bit of snow here today on this Saturday in Central Illinois, but its a wet snow, and not sticking to the roads, but to the grass.  I can deal with that because it will be gone soon.

I have been doing some Spring sweater knitting though.  Originally, I bought the coral yarn for this sweater and did a swatch.

Once I swatched for it, I felt like it was going to be one boring knit all in one color.  So, I took the yarn back to my local yarn shop and decided to do a multi colored one like this.

Unfortunately, when my LYS bought the yarn she didn't buy all the same colors as in the pattern.  Now, I could have bought what she had colors in and ordered the rest, as my friend did, and it would made a stunning Spring sweater.  But, two things occurred to me.  I really didn't want a sweater exactly like my good friend was going to knit, and I thought, how about if I went with the colors my LYS actually had.

I am pleased with my selection, with the exception of those two colors in the middle, but at this point I am not ripping back, just motoring ahead.  This has been a fast knit, and I just love seeing how it comes together adding each next section.

It is going to be a great Spring/Summer sweater and has me psyched to knit some more sweaters when the season finally appears.

Have a great weekend!

Spring Optimist

I am an optimist when it comes to Spring.  Give me a couple of days of sunshine and some warm temps and I am always sure that Spring is coming early.  But, then a late snow and it becomes quite clear Spring is not coming early.

I remember one year, when we had so much warm weather early on, that I went out bought flowers, planted them and sat back to enjoy them.  Then, in April, it got cold, we had snow and well there you have it.

But, I can still be hopeful, just not planting any flowers until later in April.

In the meantime, we had another beautiful weekend in Central Illinois, and I had my one Shamrock Shake from McDonalds that I allow myself to have every year.

Sunday was a bit breezy, but we still sat out for an hour enjoying the clear skies and sunshine, while doing some mindless knitting.

And, I pulled out my folder of Spring Sweater patterns to start planning my Spring knitting.

If I start now knitting for Spring and Summer, I should be ready when it really, officially is here.  Are you planning your Spring knits yet?  In the next episode of PJKnits on you tube we will talk about Spring knits.

Catch you on the purl side.

Playing With Some Unspuns

I have a little project I am kicking around on doing that involves Unspun Icelandic.

This one all by itself..

Or these two together.  

Unspun Icelandic is such a different yarn than a lot of people are not used to knitting with.  For some, it just doesn't hit the soft and cuddly factor.  It really is pencil roving, so you can't just pull and tug on it while you are knitting on it.  It requires a bit of patience but the result is a nice warm garment or shawl that can hold up to Icelandic temperatures, hence its name.

Stay tuned for the final decision!  What are you knitting on this weekend?

This Garter Thing

It seems like I am knitting a lot of garter stitch this week.

My friend Debbie, gave me some Unicorn colored yarn at January Thaw, and I have pulled some bright colors to go with it.  The pattern Shadows in The Rain is pretty simple knitting right now and fun to see how the variegated knits up.

A couple of years ago, I knit a Prayer Shawl in these same colors only in a Pima Cotton.  I didn't realize it until I was well into the knit that I pulled these same colors for my Shot Reverse Shot Poncho below.

This an interesting knit and right now, it is sitting in time out for the joining of the two pieces together.  I am working myself up to finishing it.

While I was off, I bought these beauties from La Bien Aimee.

I'm knitting Stephen West's Dotted Rays, a bit of a slow going right now, but that is only because of some sweater knitting that is going on.

And of course, it is garter as well.  Long live Garter!

Is It Spring Yet?

When blue skies come out on the first of March, and there is a bit of warmth in the air, there is hope that the real Winter weather is behind us.  Or at least major snows and ice right?!

Which turns at least for this Knitter, the thoughts and planning for Spring/Summer knitting.

I couldn't resist picking up a couple of new books at my local yarn shop this weekend to start some planning of future sweaters.

Have you started your Spring knitting planning yet?