Finally!

The scarf is done, blocked, and fringed. It's insanely thick, so I don't think he'll be wearing it until it really cools down. I did have him try it on for a photo though.
This is our seldom-used, seed covered back yard. In anycase, I'm glad it's long enough. The last scarf I made for him ended up at an awkard not-quite-long-enough length, so I erred on the large side this time. It's longer than I am tall, nearly 6' long.

My strips of plaid have finally started coming together. I went to fabric row over the weekend and picked up a golden yellow to use for the centers of the log cabins, and started throwing some together.
I love the barn raising layout, and I'm happy that the light/dark contrast is looking pretty good. Now I need about 100 more blocks! I hope I have enough strips.
And the lace keeps on going. I'm getting more even as I go, but some of the first ones are really lopsided...that's what I get for not doing more samples...

Very-Slightly-Late Birthday Present

The scarf is pretty much done, only a week late! But Seamus did get some other nice things for his birthday, so he didn't mind. Putting on a black fringe now, I'll take pictures of him wearing it soon.


The keystone/triple tau came out a bit oval-y, a bit bumpy. I've not done intarsia inside another pattern, it got a little messy, especially since it was worked in the round. Lots of tying on and breaking off. It's super thick too.


The box of plaid scraps is growing, I've separated it out into darks and lights. Still not sure whether I'll do foundation pieced scraps, or log cabins, but either way, I'll probably do it with a light/dark separation, and probably set it in a 'barn raising' pattern.
I've also been playing with some tiny little snail trail blocks. This is about as small as I can manage by hand. Any smaller, and the pieces start to fall apart as I sew them, or the seam allowances get really bulky.
I know there are ways to get even smaller by using paper foundations on a machine, but I'm thinking I'll use this to make the pocket of my vest, so I need to keep it to hand techniques. The Snail Trail block looks a lot like traditional horn pattern, so I think, done in solid silks, it'll be a nice pocket detail.

And finally, my latest thrift-finds. The book is a great guide to netting, bobbin, and needlelace. All the 'contemporary' projects in it are the usual ugly hemp/wool abstract wall hangings that seem to have dominated fiber arts in the 70's. But the stitch patterns and diagrams are good. I also found these turquoise doc martens, quite a bonus.

Other than Knitting

While I've spent most of the week continuing on Seamus' scarf (almost to the end of the 3rd and 4th balls) I couldn't work on it *all* the time. Knitting seems especially rough on my wrists, so I need to take some breaks.

The plaid shirts I collected so far were joined by a few more and cut down to 1.5" strips.
I'm sticking with blue/green/gray plaids, to keep it cohesive--they are seem to be the easiest colors to find in thin cotton (not flannel) shirts. I'm still not sure whether I want to do a simple diagonal strip block, or a log cabin. Have to wait and see what the light/dark ration is like.
Strip of each shirt, and the 7" paper foundation. I use phonebook paper because it's free, and it tears away from the fabric easily. It's the fastest way to make strip blocks. If I make log cabins I probably won't use it.
And, excitingly enough I started filling in my tape lace piece. This stitch is called the 'pea stitch' I think I'm going to alternate it with a looser stitch.
Right, now I'm back to knitting!

Scarf Keeps Going, and Growing

If I had known when I started knitting this how much of a pain this much 2x2 checkerboard was going to be, I probably would not have done it, but it looks so nice...
According to Seamus, the "Tessalated Pavement" checkboard represents life and death, triumph and despair, good and evil. Working on this for him has been interesting--normally I am used to pulling imagery and symbols from my own fictionalized 'library.' I have both general and fairly specific rules and meanings behind the colors, shapes and materials that I use in my garments and what they mean in the fictional world they are created for, and to the characters that they belong to. Making this for him means working with pre-exsisting symbols, from the very rich visual language that Freemasonry has developed.

The tape-lace experiment continues on:
The bias strips were laid and stitched down to a dark backing fabric-so I can see what I am doing. When the whole piece is finished, I'll cut the green basting stitches holding it down and lift it off the backing fabric. Here it is not yet sewn to itself, so you can see some rough edges.
Joining the separate pieces of tape together. There will be some raw edges on the reverse, I'm not totally sure yet how I will deal with that.
Anddd, all joined up and a it cleaner looking. Now I'm ready to start the lace. I'm not sure yet if I'm just going to do an alternating pattern in every other compartment, or a bunch of different ones...
I've also started hoarding plaid shirts for a quilt, this time, I swear, queen sized to keep me warm this winter. Pattern I'm not totally sure on yet, but tonight I'm cutting them into 1.5 inch strips. I will probably just end up doing a string quilt, but I could also do a nine patch or something with the strips...