My Rhinebeck loot!

Another year at Rhinebeck and I managed to find my way over to the Briar Rose stall just 5 minutes before fair closing! I grabbed just a few items from the odds n ends bin that I am beyond delighted with.

Wants to be a hat

Are fingerless mitts or socks in her future??

Briar Rose people are so nice. I could have stayed and helped them pack up if I wasn't so dogged tired!

Everyone but me was at Rhinebeck...

...so I finished a sweater!

Celebration Retro 004
Originally uploaded by kniterella

While hunting for the perfect color of Abundance to use for my mom's birthday sweater, Chris and I decided to try a double strand of Celebration.

The Retro Cardigan pattern has just been altered for a variety of sizes and I wanted to test knit a larger size for my mom.

The Celebration was very bulky while wet blocking, but dried to perfection. The bamboo in this yarn should help keep the 'heat' down when worn.

I will get some modeled photos as soon as I can see my mom - her birthday is Nov 23rd!

Autumn Glory

Tired of spinning my needles on Sedona (yes, I know, I AM making progress, albeit slow)I cast on for Autumn Glory yesterday.

I had three hanks of Autumn-y goodness
(otherwise known as Briar Rose Sonoma)




and the view I had driving back from Michigan last week with the trees, now delineated by the emerging fall color, stacking up in staggered rows, just like a lace pattern.


(Not my picture folks. Truth in advertising.)



Lace, when rendered in a chunky yarn and a large repeat, takes on a whole new perspective.

Vitals: chunky boat neck pullover, skims body, hip length, 3/4 sleeve. Rib repeats at raglan neckline and top of sleeves.



See the trunks in the ribbing design?





(Sorry for the slight blur. I design. I don't shoot well.)


And the little trees?






It'll look better once it's blocked.

In the Pipeline

here's what's shakin' at Sunflower Designs:

Remember the Sedona vest?


She's up to ten inches now, which may not seem like a lot, but when you're working a woven stitch, which takes two rows to knit every stitch on the needle, AND you are working in the round with no side seams, it takes a while, let me tell you.




I am thrilled with how she is turning out. Gorgeous texture and color from a four stitch repeat and a pattern so easy a rank beginner could handle it.







I wanted to produce something less intimidating than Cherry for my second design, something any knitter would be able to knit and proud to show off. I hope this fits the bill.




The yarn is Briar Rose (of course!) handpainted Legend in two colors:


the original desert-y blend of amber, orange, teal, green, and brown








and this custom-dyed rose, copper, eggplant blend (Thanks, Chris!)






Then there is my Roots skirt.

Not for the faint at heart, but eminently worth the effort. The yarn is Briar Rose Fourth of July (love this yarn - soft-squishy-great depth of color)in blues, greens, and browns, the pattern of my own design (natch!)







The skirt is knit in the round from the bottom up. She has a lace edging at the hem, then divides into eight panels, alternating moss stitch and cabling.






The cables are done in twist stitches at this point as they are single stitches. As the skirt progresses up the body, the cabled panels decrease in size, shaping the skirt into a flattering A-line silhouette, while the firmness of the moss stitch should keep it from losing its shape. The cables twist, twine, cross, and eventually join up with one another so that the effect is of a complex root structure twisting down the panels. 376 rows of charting! Phew!

So, I have one for the (easy) money, and one for the show (boy, does she ever!)

Look what I picked up again!

That would be my Cherry Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I'm knitting on the lace border and am about 1/2 way down the first side. I hope to have it done before Rhinebeck so I can say I knitted all the Briar Rose yarn I purchased last year. And I wanted to wear something made of my Briar Rose yarn since I gifted the Retro Cardi to my Mom.

The race is on! Can't wait to see you next weekend Chris!

my favorite new thing

red cardigan of my own design, knit with briar rose grandma's blessing on size 3 needles.
everything felt right about this project from the start. a few bumps in the road at the blocking stage, but all's well that ends well, and i finally have myself a much-needed new sweater.

Like a Vest, Just Longer

It's not all vests in my knitting life. I fell in love with the Rannoch dress in Rowan 42, and of course, Fourth of July came to mind as just the perfect thing with the seed stitch and cables. With the colors of the yarn, I'm going to have a lot of choices for what to wear underneath. Still lots more knitting to go.

Celebration Retro Cardigan in progress

Knitting has been happening. I have caught cast-on-itis and am home sick from work today. Hubs and I took the new toy up North last weekend to the Fiber Festival in Ogemaw County. It was a wonderful day. We sat outside and listened to music while eating - the food was delicious - seee.....

Chris was VERY busy and the yarn I long for flew off of the shelves right before my very eyes. We chose some Celebration to use for the Retro Cardigan. You be the judge on how it is working out.

I have re-sized the pattern and this is the test. So far, so good. The Celebration is double-stranded and knits up nicely. The sizing is right-on and the pattern should be ready once this is complete. The best thing about knitting it this time is there are not large numbers of ends to weave in. I just wound the two skeins into cakes and took off. There is no need to alternate rows to allow for skein variation.

Sorry Bout That!

OK fight fans. I have reloaded the pictures of the cherry country shawl. Don't know what the problem was, but I think she is fully functional now. Drool all you want. I'll make more...

Ta-Daaah!

"Cherry oh, Cherry oh, baby,
Don`t you know I`m in need of thee?
If you don`t believe it`s true,
What have you left me to do?
So long I've been waiting,
For you to come right in.
And now that we are together,
Please make my joy run over."

-Eric Donaldson

Do you have any idea how nice it is to be able to tag this post with BOTH "cherry country shawl" and "FOs"?

Without further ado...

Here she is, Miss America...

(Wait a minute - wrong song)

Here she is, her Royal Cherry-dom...

(that's better!)


Vital Statistics:
38" wide by 98” long (after blocking)
1800 yards Briar Rose Fibers Grandma’s Blessing, Sport Weight

Size 5US needles

Took a lot longer than I expected to finish final border, graft it on, wash & block the little lady... Then again, queens have been known to keep their loyal subjects waiting.

Only just released into the world and already, she's a prima donna (sigh!)

Here are a few more beauty shots.

(of the shawl - not me - silly!)


artfully modeled by middle aged woman wearing no makeup...

(Baby Boy's girlfriend was unavailable and trust me, she's w-a-ay better looking!)










obligatory wingspan shot...








ready for her close up...

(again - the shawl - not me)





And a few more showing off her lacy-ness...













How do you like them apples cherries?








close up of blossoming branch and beech leaf edging









And one last shot for the blocking voyeurs (you know who you are!)











Took all day yesterday, but the pattern is ready for sale. Tomorrow I am off to Leland, where the shawl will premier Saturday at Briar Rose's booth at the Fiber Festival. If you're in the area, stop on by and check it out.

Back next week. At that time the pattern will be for sale on the website (assuming I can figure out how to get PayPal set up.)

Thank you to all who have encouraged me in the great cherry odyssey of 2007.

And I'm just getting started..

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!

Here I am with my beautiful Christmas Knitting Giveaway Goods. Thank you so much!!!

Extreme Close Up...

I plan to make a Lacey Cable Shrug for my Sister In Law Beth, but we'll see. I kind of fell in love with it while wearing it around the house. No, I didn't just wear it for the photo, I refused to take it off.