Shawls

I am on a shawl roll.

I have 22 rows and a CO to finish my own Ulmus. I knitted quite a few rows of it last Saturday while managing to knit quite by myself but in public as the day demanded:

Knitting by myself in a Pub in Lewiston, NY

Knitting by myself in a Pub in Lewiston, NY

Still Knitting in Public, Bridges, Georgian Bay, ON, Canada

Still Knitting in Public, Bridges, Georgian Bay, ON, Canada

Last Wednesday I succumbed to a yarn I kept finding in different yarn shops since just before Christmas 2007. What kept attracting me to it are all those colors. Actually I think I first saw it in a bulky version and I bought the worsted one but the colors are the same, it is Misti Alpaca Hand Painted Worsted in the colorway Neruda. From some reason I can’t find my colorway on their website, maybe they don’t sell it any more.

Thursday I couldn’t resist it and started the Shawl that Jazz and I enjoy every minute of it. All those colors on my needles really make me happy:

Aren't they pretty?

Aren't they pretty?

On Saturday I received the very beautiful Whisper Lace Yarn in the colorway Arabian Nights I ordered from Kim of The Woolen Rabbit, this is going to be a special gift for my sister who is going to be 60 at the end of September. I  tried to take a photo of the yarn:

So Soft, So beautiful but the colors are all wrong

So Soft, So beautiful but the colors are all wrong

But couldn’t get even close to the real colors. I think the gray weather that by the way,  make me quite happy, didn’t help, although my guess is that this color will be difficult to photograph even under the best conditions. It is much darker, rich  and oh so beautiful and soft. This is going to be a very pleasurable project indeed.

Oh and I already know what I am going to knit next and yes, it is another shawl, the Milkweed Shawl by Laura Chau, I saw it on her when I visited Lettuce Knit last Wednesday and was so happy to see the published pattern on her blog the next day! I have this very same color of Casbah yarn waiting to become something lovely for me. When I bought this yarn I thought I will have to find a pattern to knit something that will not hide in my shoes most of the time and I think I just found it.

I wonder how long I will manage to resist starting this one too. I need to knit a pair of socks before I start this one, do you hear me Rachel?!?

The Pressure of the Name

I need your help.

Mary has these flowers growing in her kitchen:

They look like plastic and velvet to me

Oh what a lovely velvety beauty

Their buds look like plastic to me:

What is this thing hanging quietly behind the curtain?

What is this thing hanging quietly behind the curtain?

My sister has the same plant on her balcony in Yafo, Israel.  I think she had this plant for a long time with only one miserable leaf; It didn’t want to grow and he didn’t want to die until she moved it to another place that it liked better! (or maybe this memory is of the same plant in my place in Tel Aviv, I really can’t place the memory)

Mary’s plant is hanging in the kitchen and in its search of light it went behind the curtain. An occasional bud or flower peeps at us from behind the curtain but if you go look for them you can find more buds and flowers growing happily completely hidden between the wall and the curtain:

This little beauty is completely hidden

This little beauty is completely hidden

Does anyone know the name of this plant? Joseph says he knew it but can’t remember it no matter how hard he tries. Extra points if you know the source of my header (with a tiny change).

Ulmus II

I wanted to tell you about our surprise sail last Friday:

Surprise Sail at the Mouth of the Niagara River

Surprise Sail at the Mouth of the Niagara River

but it is late and I must share with you my new obsession so I will have to return to the surprise sailing adventure some other time.

I would like to introduce my new Ulmus II:

My new obsession - Ulmus shawls....

My new obsession - Ulmus shawls....

I had to cast on for another Ulmus the minute I finished casting off my Dandelions shawl. I don’t know what possessed me; I have so many things I want to knit and so many projects I want to finish; but nothing could stop me, I just had to knit another Ulmus. I think maybe because I am a bit disappointed with my Dandelions shawl:

My Dandelions are drying much nicer than the flowers!

My Dandelions are drying much nicer than the flowers!

The colors are exquisite but alas where is the nice drape?!? It is completely my fault, I think I knitted it on too small a needle and I actually suspected it for quite a long time. Or maybe it is a combination of the yarn and the needle size. I washed it and added some hair conditioner and hope this will improve its drape but I am still not sure I am not going to rip it off and knit it all over again,,,  ETA: The spa treatment (shampoo, conditioning and quite a lot of stretching) helped a lot and now I believe my Dandelions Shawl is going to stay as is. I still believe it may have been nicer knitted on larger needles but it is good enough to stay as is.

For my new Ulmus (and this one is for me) I am using a hand painted yarn I bought from Kelly from Tucker Woods Farm at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival:

Hand painted sock yarn

Hand painted sock yarn

The colors are a bit off in this photo I think the next one show them better but I am not completely sure now:

Close-up on my new Ulmus II

Close-up on my new Ulmus II

The slip stitch pattern create a combination of these two colors that I love,  very much my color.

I think the drape of this one will be closer to the one in my imagination, the yarn is thiner and the wool content is different too but I will have to wait and see.

Wish me luck because if this one will disappoint me too I may find myself knitting Ulmuses to the end of my life,,,,