Stripe Study Shawl

One stitch at a time...

I'm loving the orange. It's so fun to knit with. Every time I pick up the project it is a burst of colour therapy putting me in a happy mood.

Cheers,
Lynda

Do we see the signs - do we care??

Tears rolled down my cheeks when I read this post. It's a long post but keep reading.

The sentiments in this story should not be forgotten.

"I will not judge a man till I have walked a mile in his moccasins"

"Judge not, lest ye be judged"

and as it was so well put in the story

"My heart is broken, please be gentle with us."

I'm going to try a little harder today to look for signs.

Cheers,
Lynda

A Stripe Study Shawl Update

I pushed on with the colour choices I made for this shawl and so far so good I think. The two greys when viewed separately have a distinct grey colour but colour play comes into the mix when they are viewed knitted into stripes and one grey yarn takes on a greenish colour.

I want the shawl to have a gradual colour change in the stripes as it progresses down the shawl to the vivid orange.  I think this is working.

I'm not so happy with my untidy wraps and turns. Not sure what I can do about that!

Have a lovely day,

Cheers,

Lynda

New Yarn

This is the yarn that I ordered online from Twisted Fiber Art. It is dyed to order in graduating shades in an amount to knit a whole shawl from beginning colour until the end so there are no random colour changes caused by joining in a new skein of yarn. The yarn is amazing. There is a beautiful depth of colour and slight sheen but it also has a soft, muted, look. This yarn meets all my high expectations and it is exactly what I had in mind.

My original idea was to use this yarn and another grey yarn in the Stripe Study Shawl but now that I have the two yarns in front of me I don't think they compliment each other. I wanted the greys to be different but the shades seem to clash a little. I guess that is the trouble with picking yarn sight unseen from online.

I've imagined this shawl for weeks now as I wanted for the yarn to arrive. I could see the greys contrasting beautifully with the strong pop of orange along the border and graduating up the shawl and now I am disappointed and confused.

What am I going to do? Advice please and thank you!

Cheers,
Lynda

The Shaelyn is done

Totally love this shawl. I am so happy that it is finished so I can wear it before the weather warms up but I need to start a new project soon or I am likely to cast on for another Shaelyn. It was such a fun and easy knit and when it comes to the yarn, well words fail me. The yarn is Fayola by Mosely Park and it is the richest, deepest purple but I was not able to capture the intensity of the yarn in the photographs.

Because the yarn was so divine I knitted the shawl larger than the pattern because I wanted the shawl to be a large wrap around shawl rather than the small shoulder shawl that the pattern knits to. I worked 6 lace panels and then the edging and the size is perfect. This shawl looks just as lovely scrunched up around the neck and shoulders as it does worn as the traditional shawl look. This is one of my favourite knits.

What's next? I'm waiting on yarn that I ordered online to make the Stripe Study shawl  by Veera Valimaki and I am desperately hoping that it arrives soon. It is a dyed to order yarn so I expected it to take some time to arrive.  The colours I've chosen for that are grey and orange and I can't wait to see what the orange looks like in the real. It's so hard picking colours online when you have no idea at all what the yarn really looks like.

I'm off to snuggle with my new shawl!

Cheers,
Lynda

Quick Crafting

Today I finished off the coasters that I have been making using old cds and images. I enjoy using items that would otherwise be thrown out in the rubbish for craft projects and Jeff recently gave me a pile of old cds that he no longer wanted. I new exactly what I was going to do with them. I've wanted to make these for awhile but kept putting it off.

I used some free images found online and also an image from my own clock face.

After resizing the images to fit the cds I glued them on the back and front and sealed the images so they would be suitable to use as a drink coaster and so they could be wiped over for cleaning.

 I love the olde worlde distressed look of the clock faces and I think they make lovely coasters. The photos make the coasters look big but really they are just the right size for a coffee mug.

Cheers,
Lynda

Jeff's Car

BF XR6 The new pride and joy

Yes Jeff finally has another car and his girlfriend Kim and I will no longer have to drive him to and from  work! Yay for that!


Cheers,
Lynda

Spring has Sprung

Gosh! It's the first day of Spring! Seems like we have been having Spring for the last couple of months. The month of August was the warmest August on record in Melbourne. The weather has mostly been glorious and we can look forward to more of the same, that is until the heat sets in!

We can't have Spring without a comment on the garden, can we? The Spring bulbs, blossoms and other flowers have been showing their beauty for  a couple of months now. It's only the daffs that still have to burst forth in flower. I think they are waiting until the other flowers have died down to strut their stuff and say look at me, I'm the best of all with my showy flower and happy, bright colours.

 
The garden is a buzz with chirping birds, bees and other insects. It's lovely to see them buzzing around the blossoms and hopefully we can look forward to a good crop on the fruit trees in late Summer. 

The animals are starting to get a little frisky too!

Marnie thinks she's getting kisses but we think Duke has a thing for sniffing up hair :)

To my friends on the other side of the world, enjoy your last day of Summer because Fall is only a sleep away! Ah Spring and Fall, my equal favourite seasons of the year!

Have a lovely day,
Cheers,
Lynda