No matter how many times I tell myself not be be a "Beta" tester for new lace knitting books, I find myself getting caught-up in projects only to find that there are corrections. This was the case with the "Crown Prince" shawl from the new Nancy Bush book on Estonian Knitting. I was half way through the center of the shawl when a nice person on Ravelry let me know there was an error in the chart. I thought those center diamonds looked kind of odd. I ripped the whole thing back and started over again after giving myself a mental "dope slap". For those of you who are going to get the book, here is the errata page so far. Be sure to check back from time to time as more are added. Though it has been awhile since I posted, I have not been idle. After playing with the "Wonder Weave"and making about a dozen woven squares, I realized that what I really wanted was something a little bit bigger to work on. I did, in fact, buy a 25 inch Schacht Rigid Heddle Loom from "Verb" and made a scarf out of hand spun yarn. It's a two ply made with a single spun from a batt of merino/silk noil from "A Verb For Keeping Warm" and plied with a complimentary fiber (the one left over from Mountain Pine) which is also a merino/silk for the weft. I used a smooth version of the yarn for the warp without the noil. It worked up to 20 WPI and I got to use the lovely new inch gage I puchased from Brandywine Woodworking. They are made from Goncalo Alves and are just beautiful. I kept one and the other went to my sister. As for the weaving, I used a 10 dent heddle and warped directly onto the loom rather than using a warping board. The scarf was a 4 day project so this new hobby will be my "Stash Buster" for fibers building up in the house :-) While I can see this fitting into my crafting nicely, I don't see it taking over all my time. My heart still belongs to lace knitting but making a scarf of hand spun yarn is really fun and quick.
The taupe skein of lace weight yarn is more of the CVM I'm spinning up. The singles on the bobbin are Black Bunny Fiber singles in a colorway called "Faded Flowers" I bought more alpaca lace weight from "Verb" in colorway "Green Beans" as well as additional spinning fibers "Victorian" which is a 80/20 merino/tussah silk in pinks and greys and,"This is a new day" in a sort of purple 50/50 yak/silk. The last two braids are Super Wash BFL from Girl On the Rocks that I picked up at Bizarre Bazaar. I could not resist. I will need to be able to weave just to make it through all this fiber!
I will be knitting on the Crown Prince, Goldregen and "Bells Through The Leaves" this weekend. Just so you don't think I'm in hibernation with piles of yarn and fiber around me. I hope to be able to post progress in January 2009!
As this difficult year comes to an end, I'd like to wish everyone out there a Happy Holiday and a hopes for a prosperous and healthy New Year!
