The Lure of Lace

It's been so long since I've posted. Thanks to those of you that haven't given up on me and e-mailed. DH and I are settling in here and things are starting to feel normal again and not like I am on some extended vacation. For a time there was no knitting being done, though there was yarn buying, but I am making up for that, now.

I am in a state of finish-itis, which I suppose is better than being in a state of start-tis. But, perhaps, this finish-itis has come upon me because of the guilt I know I would feel if I let the start-itis that is lurking behind it come to the forefront before finishing some more ufo's! But, before I tell you what I'm working on, let me show you a few yarn acquisitions.


I had to find out what all the noise about Tofutsies was about. That was my first purchase. You can see it was around Easter time. This is from my new LYS in Knoxville.


On a trip to Lexington, I found some sock yarn for DH. He's a drab color kind of guy.


Back in Knoxville, I found some really gorgeous lace weight called Jojoland Harmony. The colors seem to blend like trekking in an ombre fashion. I can't wait to find the perfect lace pattern. I've seen some really pretty things people have made out of it on Ravelry. The other sparkly stuff was on sale. I know I'll find something to do with it one day.

So what have I been working on? I put away the wrap sweater for a little while, because I've been itching to work on some lace again. I made some progress on my Heere Be Dragone shawl.

I am actually, farther along than this photo shows. I've started the wings. This pattern is so much fun. Every part of the creature is made from a different textured lace stitch. I am not so much fond of dragons as I was interested in learning the techniques used in this kind of pictoral lace knitting. The horizontal stitch is my favorite thing I learned from this shawl and it's so useful.

I was almost tempted to use lifelines making this shawl, but being kind of lazy and never using them before, I've just been knitting happily (and sometimes frustratingly) along. I find fixing lace mistakes kind of fun and challenging, especially if you have to drop (on purpose or not on purpose) down some stitches to repair something a row or two down. What a weirdo! The most difficult thing for me is to remember while knitting this pattern is that on the even numbered rows you still have to pay close attention to the last charted row, because there are some stitches that have to be slipped and they are not marked on the even row.

Yesterday, I put this shawl (which I am calling, The Green Dragon, in honor of the tavern by the same name in, Hobbiton, from Tolkien's trilogy) aside in order to finish the Peacock Feathers Shawl that I started long ago. I am now on the border, and should be done with it tonight. This is that variegated mess that I will be over-dying in order to bring the gorgeous lace pattern back out to the forefront.

Next post, which will be very soon, maybe even tonight, I will show you what I have been up to with yarn purchased from Laura at Drooling Over Yarn.