Did you all have a nice weekend?
I’m sitting here looking at still more snow. This is the snowiest January I can remember for quite some time - we seem to get more white stuff every other day or so! I guess I’m lucky not to be in the mountains, eh? It’s not really the snow I hate, it’s the constant cleaning off of the car that gets to me :)
The bag is nearing completion:
Getting there…
This is about as big as I want it. I had thought that a feather and fan swath around the top would be pretty so I did the eyelets (clumsily, to be honest) and increased for the correct number of stitches for however many sections of the lace pattern that was going to be. I had worked one repeat before I realized things weren’t working out - nor were they likely to. I pulled it all out and decided, while I was at it, to re-do those clumsy eyelets - out they came too. Now I’m back to my original idea which was to use crochet for the lace.
I stopped into Joanne Fabric (not a place I generally go) over the weekend, looking for lining fabric and found a beautiful deep red/crimson/violet print on sale for $2.00/yard. It was 100% polyester, but it was a substantial feeling fabric with a hand that I more associate with rayon - drapey and heavier than it looks. It was beautiful, perfect for the bag and the price was certainly right. So I grabbed the bolt and went over to have it cut only to find a line of about a dozen other women, several of whom had shopping carts full of bolts. I thought about it long enough to realize that this was going to take forever and then I’d be getting back in line behind these same folks at the register too. So I put the bolt back; it just wasn’t worth the time to me.
Joanne’s craft department looked like a tornado had hit it. It wasn’t as though it had just been busy, it was in serious disarray - about four aisles (or half-aisles) of uproar, mess and craziness. I had to see if they had anything interesting in the way of yarns or needles, since I was there, but finding any particular thing in that corner of the store was nigh onto impossible.
All of which is probably why I seldom visit Joanne Fabric :)
I did finally decide on a shawl pattern:
The beginning…
This is the beginning of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s beautiful Snowdrop Shawl (link opens a .pdf file of the pattern). I’ve looked at this pattern a dozen times over the last couple of weeks but the fact that’s it’s substantially lace (and that I’m substantially chicken about lace) made me pass it over every time. Last night I decided to try it and gave it a dry run with regular acrylic worsted on size 6 needles. Hunh - well, that’s not too hard. Finally I decided to give it a go with the mohair on size 10 needles and off we went!
Because it’s mohair, it requires that I pay attention and not try to rush things. As long as I remember this, I should be okay. This is working up nicely and I know from my swatch work (how long ago was that now?) that the material will be even nicer after it’s been washed. But this yarn loves to stick to itself and is just about unfroggable. So, slow and steady is my mantra on this one.
I’m still plugging away on the socks too, but I won’t bore you with another half-finished sock picture. The magic loop technique works fabulously for me and I’m really glad I tried it. This makes all the difference between a chore and actually having fun :)
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Mmmm, lovely shawl pattern. I know what you mean about mohair though - I would hate to think how often I’ve knitted the hairy bits, instead of the actual stitch. It is a total pain to frog!
bag looks pretty, but omigosh that periwinkle mohair!! it will be a real ‘show’piece for sure- okay, so i am more than partial to periwinkle anything, but the pattern and that yarn should work up into a lovely shawl for the grand excursion over the waters-
i think i would do almost anything for a joanne’s nearby although one of the advantages of usually being an online shopper is that i never have to wrangle with the crowds and the only confusion is of my own making-
snow there- sun here- this should be our grey cool month so all the poor plants are confused and trying to do their springtime thing too early-
stay happy-
Pam - I hate it when I knit the hair rather than the stitch - and when the presence of a curl of hair makes me think I’m knitting 2 stitches together when I shouldn’t be :) Had both things happen last night.
Barb - That color knits up just a little dustier than it looks in the ball - but it sure is nice. It was a good thing you mentioned maybe something lacey because I wouldn’t have entertained the notion otherwise - being, as I blieved, knitting-lace challenged.
I’d be absolutely thrilled to exchange some of my snow for some of your sunshine!
Oh man this will be -awesome-! We’ll both work on our Snowdrops together and since -you’re- the one who actually finishes things, perhaps I’ll be motivated to finish mine as well! I like your color more than mine. :( Also, since this was my first lace project, I charted the -entire- thing in Excel. If you’re interested I’ll send it to you. I even did some calculus (yay math!) to figure the total number of stitches, so you can calculate your percentage complete. OH MY GOD I’M SO GEEKY!
I love the look of your bag. I’ve always been partial to texture. I can’t wait to see it finished. Good for you in taking the plunge and attempting lace. The finished result is always so satisfying.
Laura - LOL (gasping, wheezing and trying to catch breath) - you are TOO much girl :) I’ll pass on the spreadsheet, though I appreciate the offer. But the math thing - working a right-side row of this while my brain sorts out the pattern and counts off between (and during) motifs puts me right in the zone.
Trance through mathematics? Hehehe…
Cheryl - Well, until last night I would have said I couldn’t do lace - no way, no how. And now…well, I’m not sure that’s true :) If that’s what you mean by satisfying - you’re absolutely right!
The Joanne’s here is the same! It always looks awful! Stuff all over the floor, and it’s DIRTY!
argh!
Lisa - I don’t get in often enough to really know whether it’s always like that, though it seems to be whenever I do go there. I can’t imagine how they stay open and in business!
Your bag is lovely. I really like the pink! Can’t wait to see more of it! Your snowdrop shawl is off to a great start as well. The color you chose is perfect! :) Have a great week!
Lolly - Thanks :) I like the colors too though I really think I need to get a few more earth tones into my stash - some golds or yellows and mybe something along terra cotta lines?
The bag is shaping up beautifully…I can’t wait to see it completed. You described my frustrations with JoAnnn’s perfectly. There are always long line and one person cutting and one person on the register. I do not even go in the store anymore.Last time in I needed a spool of thread and there were 15 people in line at the register. 
Maureen - You know, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was just my Joanne’s - you know, sort of a one-off thing. But I’m really surprised to read that the chain seems to be like that all over the country!
I love the bag! The color is hot and the flower motif when it’s closed is spectacular. Great fun. What’s the pattern?
Helen - Thanks for your kind comments! I kind of made it up as I went along :)
