Stephen West's Samen

I have messed with my gorgeous line yarn from Claudia all week.  I just did not like the yarn in the pattern that I was trying to use.  So this morning, I spent a bit of time looking for a new idea.




My newest idea is Stephen West's Samen.  The yarn is held double in this shawl with short rows to make the shape.  My color ideas will be very different from what is seen here, but the shape of the shawl will be similar.

Carla's Tashashu Gordon scarf

Our knitting group met at Sarah's Kanawha City knitting shop in the end of March.  Carla bought yarn for a pattern that she had bought on Ravelry called Short Scarf Dryad.  She is getting ready to start the scarf and I do love what she bought!



The yarn she bought from Sarah is



It is a solid gray and then a variegated



Carla is using my 2.5mm circular needles.  What a wonderful use for a variegated yarn!

Start as many new projects as you like!

Linda Wilkinson sent me a link to a blog that was sharing an article from Interweave.  The article is about starting as many new projects as one likes.  I am not sure that I agree with that.  But I do believe in having three projects going at any one time.  I find that starting a new project is lots of fun, but it takes a lot of time and is hard to do in a social situation.  So I need to find some down time in my life to spend on my new project.

Why three projects?  Because I knit mostly in social situations or while on the phone and etc, I find that if I make a mistake I need to knit something else until I have some quiet time to fix whatever is causing the problem.  So I always have two projects that go with me.  And then I need a third project that is perhaps just a bit more challenging ....or perhaps it is not seasonal.

I know that seasonal is kind of crazy.....but I do not like to knit heavy wool in the summer....I want to experiment with linen or hemp or silk or something summery!  And then when winter rolls around, I want to pull out those warm, wool projects that make me "drool"!  I am not above putting a half finished project up when April rolls around to pull back out in September!

So here is the link if you want to read the article for yourself:

https://mailchi.mp/yarnandcoffee/owdsuq9mhl?e=670940a7aa

I am dreaming of some summer projects right now:





And the next yarn is even prettier in person and is a big bowl on my family room trunk/coffee table.

Genealogy conference

I know that this is an odd title for my knitting blog.  However, I just returned from the Ohio Genealogical Society's spring conference and I, truly, my brain is still on overload.  So I have to start unloading my brain somewhere.....so I'll start with my knitting thoughts.

As always, I packed way too much.  I went a day early to check into my room.  The conference was at the Great Wolf Lodge just northeast of Cincinnatti.  It is such a funny place to have a conference, but it actually works out very well.  My room was in the perfect place.  Half way between the main lobby (where one might buy coffee) and the conference area.  But I kept making the remark to everyone I ran into.....it is certainly easy to tell which are the swimmers and which are the genealogy people.

But back to the packing.  It was probably the first time in my life that I had packed exactly everything that I needed for the trip.  Never did I have the thought that I wished that I had brought X.  And the first day the rooms were freezing in spite of the fact that it was almost 85 outside....and then the rest of the days were cold and rainy.....so thank goodness I had brought sweaters and long sleeves.  I was reminded that my best look is a pair of pants, a t-shirt, and a long summer sweater with a necklace of some sort.  BUT, there were several women who had brought a nice shawl with them to wear in the rooms that were cold....and I definitely want to take at least one shawl next time!  In fact I think that I might want to knit a very specific shawl for just such events.  I will give that some thought and add ideas on this blog site.

The second thought that I want to add here is that I checked and Fiber Optics has a shop only 20 minutes away from the Great Wolf Lodge....and only a very few minutes out of the way when arriving or leaving the area.....just a few miles off route 32.  Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that the hours advertised said that they were open until 6 on Saturday, when I pulled up in front at 4:30, the place was closed....I will do this on another trip.  I am almost positive that Dar is a huge fan of Fiber Optics.

Frilled Cast On

Pinterest sent me a pin this morning that had something of interest for shawl cast ons.  The Frilled cast on.



I saved the site to which pinterest sent me to learn how to make this cast on in my book marks under the folder Knitting.  The suggestion on the site is that this pairs well with the picot cast off.

Wendy's Fern Shawl

Porch weather finally has hit.  I know it won't be every day yet and often it is too cool in the morning still.  But yesterday late afternoon and early evening was very nice on the porch.  I began thinking about starting summer projects.  I found a box labelled summer and chose a yarn that I like.

Tahki Yarns Luguna.  It is 78% Linen and 22% Cotton and is a nice soft natural looking color.  Next step is a pattern.  I chose Wendys' Fern Shawl.





I am knitting the project on size 8 needles.  It is not totally mindless but easy enough to take to knitting on Tuesdays.

I finished the shawl in July while Mary's family was visiting.  I like it a lot!

Blocking and Gauge

I received an e-mail this morning from Harps and Thistles which is the yarn shop that I visited on my magical trip to Buffalo to see Rudy's hockey tournament.  There was a link to a very good article about both gauge and blocking that I didn't want to loose.  The article is on the Mason Dixon Knitting site:

https://www.masondixonknitting.com/techniques-in-depth-how-to-measure/?platform=hootsuite&mc_cid=a2a6bd011f&mc_eid=178c0f918a