There’s a new entry over at The Dye Pot - my first intentional attempt at dyeing a multi-colored yarn :)  It’s called Crimson and Clover.  Let me know what you think - I would especially appreciate your thoughts on any ways I might improve the process.

I’m hoping to decide on a new big project over the weekend and in the mean time I’m working on smaller things like hats and scarves and socks - nothing new or exciting.

Summer’s winding down and I’m kind of sorry to see the end of the really good peaches and fresh corn we’ve had this year - even though I’m looking forward to the butternut and the acorn squash.  Our trees are beginning to turn already - probably because of the very cool (relatively speaking) August.  Many are sporting a single branch of brilliant yellow or glowng crimson.  Others just have a few leaves here and there - like colorful freckles :)  It’s certainly a pretty process to watch but it does make me wonder what this coming winter is going to be like.

Just out of curiousity - has anyone ever kept basil going through the winter - indoors?  We bought a huge fresh bunch a couple of weeks ago.  We trimmed the ends and stuck it in a large glass of water - and it’s growing roots!  I’d love to plant it if there’s any chance of keeping it going - anyone know?

Have a great weekend, all :)

First - thank you all for your kind and supportive comments to Monday’s post.  I’ve been living with this for a long time and am used it it, after a fashion.  However, your thoughtfulness and good wishes brought tears to my eyes and I cannot begin to express how much I appreciate it :)

Second - Knitting Chatters is on for Thursday night.  Click on the button on the sidebar to get to the chat room - hope to see you then!

Now - on to the Main Event!

This all came about because of the cruise trips my father keeps taking me on :)  One of the lines we frequently travel has two wool/mohair throws in the closet.  Because I like my quarters to be as cool as possible when I’m traveling, eventually I dug out the throws to lay over me at night.  Their light weight and toasty warmth completely seduced me.  Of course the throws are available in the ship’s gift shop for a princely sum but, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, I realized that I could make one.  All I had to do was find the mohair.  In June, accompanied by the marvelous Bron, I did!

The plan evolved to make the blanket in panels, changing colors as the whim struck but using a single lace stitch pattern for each.  I love knitting lace with mohair - while the size of the lace itself is large, the mohair retains the delicacy of smaller scale work.  I had planned this project to go through the summer but August was so cool that I’m afraid I rushed it so that I would be able to use it.

It was simply a matter of deciding how long and how wide I wanted the finished blanket to be.  The mohair (about 24 oz of Classic Elite La Gran) was worked on US size 10.5 (6.5mm) needles.  I wound up with 6 panels varying between 8 and 12 inches in width.  When all the panels were done I had a momentary KRPA (Knitting Related Panic Attack) while I considered how in the world I would join them.  Sew?  Mohair?  Unh-unh…  Pick up stitches and do a three needle bind-off?  Erm…maybe not :)  The real issue was that the panels were multi-colored and I wanted something to both set them off and unify them.  Finally I decided to try a technique usually reserved for crocheted bedspreads and tablecloths.  First, using black alpaca, I crocheted a succession of ch3 loops up the side of the first panel - single crochet, ch3 all the way up the side and end with a single crochet.  Then I picked up the second panel and joined the black at one end, did a single crochet, and a chain and then single crocheted in the corresponding loop on the first panel.  Then another chain and a single crochet in the second panel.  It was just a matter of connecting loops to loops and it worked out better than I had imagined.

When all the panels were joined, I did the chain 3 loops around the entire perimeter of the blanket.  I’m not sure this is the final border but it was all I had enough black alpaca to do.  There may be something different later on and this works for now :) 

The finished measurements are about 60” x 64”.

These are the lace patterns I used.


Staggered Fern Lace - Panel of 20 stitches

1.  (right side) K11, yo, K1, yo, K3, sl1-K2tog-psso, K2
2.  (and all wrong side rows) K2, P18, K2
3.  K12, yo, K1, yo, K2, sl1-K2tog-psso, K2
5.  K2, K3tog, K4, yo, K1, yo, K3, (yo, K1) twice, sl1-K2tog-psso, K2
7.  K2, K3tog, K3, yo, K1, yo, K11
9.  K2, K3tog, K2, yo, K1, yo, K12
11. K2, K3tog, (K1, yo) twice, K3, yo, K1, yo, K4, sl1-K2tog-psso, K2
12. Repeat row 2.

Repeat these 12 rows for pattern


Vandyke Lace - Panel of 23 stitches

1.  (right side) K2, *K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK*, K3, YO, SSK, K2; repeat between *s once more.  End K2
2.  (and all wrong side rows) K2, P17, K2
3.  K2, (K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK, K1) twice, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK, K2
5.  K2, *K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK,* K2tog, YO, K3, YO, SSK; repeat between *s once more.  End K2.
6.  Repeat row 2.

Repeat these 6 rows for pattern


Allover Eyelets - Panel of 25 stitches

1.  (right side)  K5, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK, K5, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK, K5
2.  K2, P21, K2
3.  K3, YO, SSK, K5, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK, K5, K2tog, YO, K3
4.  K2, P21, K2

Repeat these 4 rows for pattern


Snowdrop - Panel of 23 stitches

1.  (right side) K2, *YO, sl1-K2tog-psso, YO, K5; repeat from * to last 5 stitches, YO, sl1-K2tog-psso, YO, K2
2.  (and all wrong side rows) K2, P19, K2
3.  K2, *YO, sl1-K2tog-psso, YO, K5; repeat from * to last 5 stitches, YO, sl1-K2tog-psso, YO, K2
5.  K5, *YO, SSK, K1, K2tog, YO, K3; repeat from *, end K2
7.  K2, *YO, sl1-K2tog-psso,YO, K1; repeat from *, end K2
8.  Repeat row 2

Repeat these 8 rows for pattern


Diagonal Lace - Panel of 19 stitches

1.  (right side) K2, (YO, SSK, K3) three times, K2
2.  (and all wrong side rows) K2, P15, K2
3.  K2, (K1, YO, SSK, K2) three times, K2
5.  K2, (K2, YO, SSK, K1) three times, K2
7.  K2, (K3, YO, SSK) three times, K2
8.  Repeat row 2

Repeat these 8 rows for pattern


Clivia - Panel of 19 stitches

1.  (right side) K2, SSK, K5, YO, K1, YO, K5, K2tog, K2
2.  (and all wrong side rows)  K2, P15, K2
3.  K2, SSK, K4, YO, K3, YO, K4, K2tog, K2
5.  K2, SSK, K3, YO, K1, K2tog, YO, K2, YO, K3, K2tog, K2
7.  K2, SSK, K2, YO, K1, YO, SSK, K1, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, K2, K2tog, K2
9.  K2, SSK, K1, YO, K3, YO, sl1-K2tog-psso, YO, K3, YO, K1, K2tog, K2
10. Repeat row 2

Repeat these 10 rows for pattern


There’s really nothing to this - it’s a matter of getting colors you like and finding lace patterns that please you.  While I have never been an orange person - or much in the way of an any-kind-of-warm-color person - I adore this combination of russets, bittersweets and tangerines accompanied by eggplant, magenta and fuchsia.  When I wake up in the morning and look down the length of the blanket at all those glorious, glowing colors, I’m thrilled all over again and it’s so silky and warm I can hardly bear to fold it up for the day.

Just call me Linus :)

Good morning folks and happy Labor Day.

This is just going to be a brief post to let you good people know where things stand and why they may be a bit erratic at times in the immediate future.

You may know that I am a cancer patient.  I was diagnosed in 2000 with breast cancer, had the mastectomy and the chemotherapy.  No evidence was found when the lymph nodes were removed and examined so it was presumed that the cancer had been discovered and caught early enough to prevent metastasis (the spread of cancer to bones and organs).  A couple of years later, while getting ready for bed, I tripped over the cat (Goldie the goober!) and my left arm broke right up under the shoulder joint.  It broke because cancer had eaten up so much of it that there was very little holding it together any more.  It turned out that there were other bone mets too, in my hips and spine.  So there was more treatment, more chemotherapy and a great deal of radiation.  I was declared terminal.

Then something good happened.  My oncologist and I decided to try a relatively new drug.  Because of the way my cancer worked, there wasn’t a lot of hope that this would help much, if at all - but there was nothing to lose by trying it.  As things turned out, it worked very well and has gone on working well until a couple of months ago.  My last bone scan showed a new met in my left femur and the cancer markers have been going back up.  A lot of testing has and will be done to find out how far things have progressed.  Right now we are trying a new medication which has a slight chance of holding things back for a while longer but more chemotherapy and more radiation is likely in the not too distant future.

In addition to this, there are also thyroid and para-thyroid problems which may or may not be cancer related (I should know soon) and which may require surgery.  So, tests and appointments are going to be the way of things for most of September and it’s possible, even likely, that posting will occur at odd and/or irregular times as, obviously, will my knitting :)

I hope you’re laughing because at this point the concatenation of things is beginning to look pretty ridiculous, even to me.  I mean, things can only go so far before they begin to seem pretty silly :)  I absolutely refuse to see myself as a victim and do not identify myself with the disease.  Nor will I be discussing it on the blog except when, as today, I feel an explanation is in order.  There are way too many people in this same boat with me for me to feel personally persecuted and frankly I think if we could all laugh at this a little more we’d be better off.  Even if it didn’t change our conditions - being entertained (even ruefully) is a whole lot better than being scared!

In other news, I have finished my mohair blanket and am distractedly, besottedly in love with the thing.  I’ll tell you all about it on Wednesday :)  Knitting Chatters will resume on Thursday evening - same bat-time, same bat-channel!