This is what is on my needles right now. I just received a shipment of Ling from Laura at the Unique Sheep. It’s part of their new Gradience collection, which in this case means that I received six 1-oz skeins in various shades of blue. The colourway is Illulissat, and ranges from a dark blue to a very light blue mixed with white. The skeins are numbered, and I chose to start at the dark end of the scale (#6) and work outwards towards the light. The yarn is lovely, really. I can’t show you any pictures of the actual shawl that is on my needles, since it’s part of the Norn series. The design was completed some time ago, but I was waiting for the perfect yarn, and here it is. So now my needles are burning as I’m working my way through the pattern.
From what I understand, the Unique Sheep offers three different laceweight yarns – Ling (merino/silk), Eos (merino/tussah silk) and Ostara (cotton) which all knit up to the same gauge. I’ve worked with Eos before, and both Eos and Ling are quite nice, but of course the drape and the feel of the fabric is different.
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that I often have multiple projects on the go in the same colour. So let me introduce you to my second current project……
This is a lace scarf using some brand new yarn from FibroFibers. In fact, it is so brand new that it is not even available yet. Jen will be offering some Tussah lace-weight yarn, and sent me a sample. The colour is a cornflower blue (no idea what it will actually be called), and it is gorgeous. I couldn’t wait to cast-on, and I’m using the sample for a small lace scarf. The tussah silk has a small “halo” to it, and the halo combined with the sky blue colour made me think of angels. So here is a small section of my scarf with little angels spreading their wings.
And just so you don’t think I’m blind to all colours but blue, here’s the yarn for the third thing I’m working on. This is Nightfall from FibroFibers. It’s a fingering weight 100% merino, and this particular skein is in Ivy. The yarn changes colour from Ivy to black. The plan is to start from the dark centre of the skein and work myself towards the lighter colours.
Skuld is the first shawl in a series of three shawls on the theme of the three Norns (Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld) in Norse mythology. The determine the fate of all living creatures by spinning the threads of life. And they water Yggdrasil – the tree of life – so the branches do not dry out or rot.
Skuld is the Norn representing the future, and since the future is dark and unknown for us mortals, I choose to use Sappho II from the Sanguine Gryphon in “Sleep Comes Down”. The colours are dark blues and black.
The Norns are responsible for spinning the threads of life for all living things, and our lives are all intertwined. Skuld is a triangular shawl designed around the idea of the threads of life and our intertwined lives. The pattern will be available on June 15 as part of the Seasons of Lace series.
I’m still knitting away on the Wollmeise Lace-Garn Cardigan. The body is completed and I have started on the sleeves.
I ended up frogging back the body 3 times I think. Mainly because of small mistakes that I just didn’t find on time, and then couldn’t be fixed nicely. And I *hate* mistakes in my knitting, so once I’ve found them I just have to fix them. Oh well, it’s all good now.
This cardigan will be waist-length, with full length sleeves, and I’m sure that I will still have a fair amount of yarn left over. One skein of Lace-Garn is all of 300 g and a little over 1,700 yards, so there is a lot of margin.
I’ve also made some progress on the sleeve. Not much, but it’s coming along. I’ve knit this part twice as well, just because I changed my mind on where to start the round, and I think this will work a lot better for multiple sizes.
My plan is to block the body in the next day or two, and then block the sleeves (after I’ve knit them, of course – getting ahead of myself a little) separately, and attach them after the fact.
Aside from the cardigan, I’ve also been working on a whole slew of different designs. If everything pans out I will have a very busy summer ahead of me. 
But it’s better to be too busy than to not have anything to do, I think.
The stories of the Norns have always fascinated me.
The three sisters live in a remote area of Aasgard, under the first root of Yggdrasil. They live in a dark cave, and in front of the cave is a well. The root of Yggdrasil snakes around the well. Each day the sisters collect water from the well and mix it with the magic clay and the coarse sand surrounding the well. They create a paste with which they cover the root to prevent rot and to preserve the life force of the tree. Yggdrasil is the world tree – central to the nine worlds of Norse mythology.
Every morning after caring for the tree, the sisters start to spin. But the thread they spin is no ordinary thread; it is not only the thread of life for all human and divine life, but also the thread determining the fate of the universe. It is the norns that measure time and control the past, the present and the future.
Their names stem from their work. Urðr represents the past, Verðandi the present and Skuld that which will happen. Together they represent destiny.
The home of the Norns, at the well, in the shade of Yggdrasil’s root is a holy place. There are three reasons it is a holy place; this is where Yggdrasil is cared for so that no rot could spread in the universe. It’s where Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld spin the thread of life and death. And it’s where the Norse gods go every day to discuss and lay plans to postpone the destruction of the world – Ragnarrök.
What could be better than an entire season of lace?
Each month you will receive a brand new pattern for a lace shawl designed based on the current theme. The lace subscription can be ordered for the summer (3 months), or summer & autumn (6 months) – Summer (June-August), and Autumn (September-November).
The theme for the summer is the three Norns (Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld). They determine the fate of all living creatures by spinning the threads of life. And they water Yggdrasil – the tree of life – so the branches do not dry out or rot.
In the autumn, we will be visiting three different world heritage sites. These shawls will be published in September, October and November.
The cost for 3 months is $20 CDN. And the cost for 6 months is $38 CDN. Each month you will receive a brand new shawl pattern. The yarn requirements vary from shawl to shawl. For the first three shawls I have used 1 skein of Marks & Kattens Fame Trend (460 yds per 100 g), 2 skeins of Unique Sheep Eos (total 1280 yds, 640 yds per 2 oz), and 1 skein of Sappho II from the Sanguine Gryphon (440 yds per 3.5 oz).
This yarn has captured my imagination since the first time I saw it. The very first time I saw it was when Victor (aka Elemmaciltur on Ravelry) knit a Mystic Waters using it. That was back in 2007. The yarn is Wollmeise Lace-Garn in Pfefferminz Prinz, and I just love these blues and greens together.
Of course, as I’m sure you know, purchasing Wollmeise is tricky to say the least, and hunting for a specific colourway even more so. But I was very lucky a year ago, and Nikki (aka kurokids on Ravelry) offered me one of her skeins of Pfefferminz Prinz.
Since then, I have been looking for the perfect project. I have had several different ideas, but nothing that seemed just right. Finally this past weekend I began swatching for a laceweight cardigan. And I can tell this is going to be it. I cast on on Sunday evening and have managed to knit a few rows on the body.
The colours make me think not so much of peppermint as of turquoise oceans in the Caribbean.
The swatch pattern for the Mystic Desire KAL has been posted. With only one week left until the first part of the pattern, you will now have the opportunity to try out your yarn and your needles.
Knitting a lace shawl is a little different from knitting a sweater in terms of gauge. No matter what your gauge is, you will still end up with a shawl. It may not be exactly the same size as mine, but it will be a nice, usable shawl. With a sweater you have to be more careful with gauge, since you want it to fit you well.
The thing to look for in a lace swatch is the difference between the yarn-overs and the stockinette portion. Do they look significantly different? And do you like the fabric of your swatch? If the answer is yes to both of those questions, you’re probably good to go.
The size of my swatch is 15 cm (width) x 12 cm (height). If yours is twice the size of mine, you might want to rethink your choices of yarn and needles, since your shawl will be really enormous. But if you’re reasonably close, you’re good to go.
Happy knitting!
There’s still time to join the KAL – for details and sign-up, see the KAL section.
As promised, here are some shots of me and the lace cardigan.
It’s meant to be worn open and doesn’t close in the front at all. It works well with jeans and a black tank top, I think, but could certainly be worn with something a little more dressy.
I just loved knitting this cardigan with a hand-dyed semi-solid yarn. It’s quite pleasing to see the variation in colour in the stockinette portion of the cardigan, and yet it doesn’t in any way detract from the lace patterning. The variation between the two skeins I used was barely visible. However, this is not always the case, so even though I didn’t do it, it’s probably a good idea to alternate skeins. Out of the four skeins of Skinny Bugga! I had to play with, three were quite similar and the fourth was visibly darker, and had I used that one I definitely would have had to alternate skeins.
On a completely different note: can you tell spring is coming? I just LOVE this time of year, when the leaves are starting to open and everything is bright green. If you look really carefully on the top picture, you can also see last years’ bright red cranberries…. I guess it wasn’t a harsh winter, so the birds didn’t eat them all.
The Lace Cardigan is finished! Since I don’t have company at the moment, I can’t model it. So only have a picture of the cardigan on a hanger. But I’ll rectify that later – I promise.
This lace cardigan is my own design, and used only two skeins of Skinny Bugga! from the Sanguine Gryphon (for size 36″). I was surprised that I only needed two (I had FOUR to play with, so now I have to dream up another project with the other two skeins). But the yardage was very generous, and I even had a little bit left-over from the two skeins.
The body of the cardigan is knit in one piece up to the armholes. It is then separated and you knit the back first, and then each of the fronts. The small lace edging along the front wraps around the collar. The sleeves are set-in sleeves, and knit flat starting at the lace cuff. It’s basically an adult size version of the cardigan I knit for my daughter last fall, with a few modifications and improvements.
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