A summer of lace, part one

G'day all!

I thought I should do a knitted finished object post - I've been knitting like crazy for the last couple of months.

I've been taking part in a knitalong my favourite group on Ravelry (RemRants), Summer of Lace 2016.  I guess it isn't so much a knitalong where you all do the same pattern as a group encouragement thing where we show off what we've been knitting and it should have some lace in it.

A couple of weeks ago I took some of my new knits down to the beach and did a photo shoot of them and a quilt I finished months and months ago.

First, for your delectation and delight, we have Dawn:

Convenient driftwood, and colours match the shawl!

The pattern is Girdle of Melian by Raven Knits Designs (links go to Ravelry).  Light yarn is aptly named Dawn, in a silk, wool and seacell blend by Fidalgo Artisan yarns.  Its colour is more subtle than my pics show.  It really looks like that clear blue light of just before sunrise.  The darker edging yarn is Mora, 100% silk, in Azules by Mmmmalabrigo.

More driftwood! 

Convenient old piling.

This one was actually a knitalong in six or seven parts.  I took it with me to Glacier National Park and knitted frantically on it during the evenings.  (Did I mention we went to Glacier?  Probably not!)

The yarn provides a lovely drape

Next we have Deepwater, my version of Waiting for Rain.  This was an interesting knit, very wordy pattern mind, that you can customise to be how you like it.  So of course instead of being a single colour, I immediately used a gradient set of mini skeins (Graphium in Iachos by A Hundred Ravens - apparently I'm the only person to have ever put it on Ravelry).  The dark colour is Madtosh Stargazing in Twist Light.  My phone pics (and the big camera pics) lose a bit of the subtlety of Stargazing - it is really a dark blue with lighter blue and bottle green bits and very yummy.  Actually the phone pics also lose the beautiful shades in the Graphium minies - a couple of the colours are absolutely gorgeous IMO, subtle variants of blue and green with a bit of mauve thrown in.

Left end

So long.  Rightish side

This is truly a very long shawl.  It is over two metres from tip to tip and as such, terribly hard to get shots of!  Very pretty though.

It spans all of the roots of the driftwood tree!

Third, but by no means least, is my version of Anemone canadensis, another design by Raven Knits.  This one is a design that is meant to stand up to variegated yarn, so I pulled out a skein I bought in London and had at it.  Yarn is Ziggy Stardust by I knit or dye.  Colourway?  None was given.  Pink, mauve and deeper pink.

A nice size shawl, fits over the shoulders and onto the front

This was a test knit so I did it exactly as written.  This was a fairly easy knit for me - once I had the lace pattern established in my head, I could zip along.  The pattern changes at the edging but again, it becomes obvious after a while, at least for me.  There's beads along the lace border - that slowed me down a bit!

There's mauve beads and pink beads there

This one doesn't match the scenery.  That is fine!

A rare modelled shot.  Yes the back is on my front.

Now what to do with the shawls?  They aren't really a thing to wear with tie dye tshirts, though maybe I could get used to them worn that way.  They are warm, surprisingly warm for such light and delicate things.

Finally, here's a sneak peek at a shawl that is still waiting for its soak and blocking.  Do you like the little glass turtle?  I think he is gorgeous.  He was made by Beau Tsai.  I have another shawl just off the needles and a third one only needs another hour or two of knitting before it joins the other five I've completed this summer!

anon!

PS if you are a knitter or crocheter or have interest in the fibre arts including dyeing and weaving and are not already on Ravelry?  GO!  Join!  It is free!  Free, do you hear me!  There's no catch, except you might get soul-sucked into the world of Rav and never resurface.  Your fibry world will never be the same again.  There are fora for chatting about your favourite patterns or techniques or designers or yarns and your fan-person tendencies, you can look at patterns until your eyes fall from your head in amazement, you can look up yarn and look at other peoples' finished objects....so much good stuff!