flower of the day: eggplant
i am SO tired these last few days.
i’m trying not to be a pill about it but man, something has whupped my a$$ good this week.
of course, it could be the hours i’m keeping . . .
but then, how can one waste time sleeping when there is so much to look at these days?
i don’t have these little cuties on just one plant—suddenly, all the tomato plants are sporting fruit.
not to be outdone, the lilies are piping right up with their chorus from the back fence
it’s a real distraction from the decrepit state of that fence . . .
here’s the one i sent to claudia this morning
to wish her great good luck on her ride for MS this weekend and on securing the number 1 for next year’s ride. and you know claudia—competitive is her middle name. just to make sure NO one beats her to that number, she offering a special raffle prize for donors who give between now and monday morning.
i’m SO proud and grateful of the knitting community this weekend—pulling together to raise lots of money for a good cause is a wonderful way for us all to say “we are here”. our knitspot community has represented over $8500 of the total she has raised—THAT is a lotta dough. can’t wait til sunday to do the drawing—it will be a fun way to close this celebration of generosity.
ok, and now back to my knitting . . . i have a fella here that is making noises about being ignored. tree scum has been very understanding but is a little sick and tired of getting a couple of rounds knit here and there. so i made a bargain with it and said i would post this handsome shot for you all to coo over
(just give it a lil’ sumpin, ok?)
by the way, i know a LOT of you have been loving this yarn, which is a handspun from a one-off dye lot, and so not readily available.
HOWEVER, teyani and klaus have the perfect substitution in the dicentra alpaca/merino sock yarn they carry. if that moss colorway is not the spit-and-image of tree scum, i’ll eat my hat. and it’s a luxurious yarn, to boot; i’m going to be knitting with it soon, in fact. in another colorway, though.
the only thing wrong with it is that name—it really should be tree scum . . .
i think that would sell.
oh YAWN. what else have i got for you.
OH yeah.
this morning i got up early and blocked the bee shawl . . .
and i know you happen to like blocking shots.
and i am an enabler of the highest order, whenever i can be of service
i have to confess that i almost ripped out the edging again—i had a half-hour or so of flagging faith in my second choice.
(c’mon—tell me you wouldn’t have considered it too, if THIS is what you were looking at)
but seriously, i just couldn’t. and you know what? i’m really happy with it after all.
calling debbieKnitter and talking about something else for a while righted my perspective (ha! you had no idea, did you debbie, that i was having the edge crisis of my life??).
and in the end, all is well with it—it IS the light, flipping, airy edge i had first envisioned to top off the wavy grass panels. sort-of flowerlike, but also looks like a swarm of no-seeums (remember, we’re in a summer field here, not my living room).
here’s a super-closeup of the join at the back neck (it’s just a few kichener stitches—not even as much as a sock toe)
and now we pull back for the long shot
i just never have a real sense beforehand of how affected i will be by this shot—i mean, EVERY time i see a just-blocked shawl, i just gasp. i was SO worried that the piece was way too busy, and not sure i had a grip on keeping it an organized chaos rather than just a mess, you know? i can hope, but it’s not the kind of thing i can really plan on every time. so when it looks right, i feel a bit faint from relief.
and wow, i am really happy with that part. to me, this piece is totally chaotic and busy, but all in a good way—looking at it really makes me feel like i’m standing in a rye field in new york state, in the hot sun, with all of micro-nature swirling about me.
and if i wasn’t worrying about the mess, i was fussing over the final size. i know from your feedback that you like a big shawl (he-he. you’ll be sorry you said that when the rows reach 500+ stitches . . .) (just kidding—i honestly don’t think the rows get much above 450 . . .)
pre-blocking it was a bit shrimpy
(this was the shawl at 4am—seriously, it was all i could do not to sit up and watch it soak). i succumbed to the urge to try it on and do a quick-and-dirty (not that kind of dirty) modeling shot, pushed it into a pan of lukewarm water, and then went to bed for a couple of hours.
it has grown quite a bit after soaking and stretching.
as someone once said, “it’s good to have done it”
Posted in Uncategorized, food and garden, lace/shawls, projects | 
106 Comments »
I hate knitting lace but I love the pre- and post- blocking pictures. It must be my love for the ugly duckling story. That is one beautiful shawl, in spite of her behavior!
Mmmmmmmm… I’m gonna HAVE to learn to knit lace! The Bee is glorious!
Gorgeous!
Gosh, it’s just gorgeous! I guess now I’ll just have to sit here (impatiently) and wait for the pattern. I already have some Lime Green JojoLand that was waiting for the right pattern. I just love the bee stitch!
Bee’s AMAZING. Beautiful! She’s GORGEOUS!
That edging is PERFECT I LOVE IT!
I can’t wait until I can get my very own bee! I want a green one AND a harvesty honey coloured one.
The garden is looking great, so alive! The Lilies are sooooo beautiful. Such happy colours. the sock, what can I say, it is one of my favourite colours. those greens entice me every time, and Queen bee, is glorious as we all knew she would be.
OMG! Anne it is Magnificent! Truly amazing! Its Art and I must make one for myself when it is available:)
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all your hard work and artistry and the labor of love you put into this piece.
Congrats on the great shawl – it’s absolutely beautiful. And the flowers in your garden are sparkling in great colours.
I’ve never seen such a spectacular — red lily! Oh, c’mon, you KNOW the shawl is spectacular, that doesn’t even need a comment. Great work with the knitting, the blocking and the gardening!
What a perfect end to the day. It’s as beautiful as I envisioned. You have to be so proud of yourself. It’s just beautiful, Anne.
Lovely pictures! I think that’s the first time I see an eggplant flower; I really like it, it’s so full of promises! Just like your tomatoes…
And the shawl is gorgeous. Thanks for the long shot: I had trouble wrapping my mind around how the different parts all came together, so it was particularly great to see it in its full glory.
Gorgeous! I want to make one, too!
Absolutely stunning! I want one!
Oh my, , the blocked shot is gorgeous. Love the lily photos. Unrelated to my daughter, I’ve always been partial to them.
Oh Anne when I got to the long shot of this beautiful bee, I just gasped too! Then I just sighed, another gorgeous masterpiece finished by the best yarn artist I know!!
Woo-hoo! You did it (not that there was any doubt) and it’s so beautiful!! Also love that sneaky approach to showing it in all its’ finished glory. Thank you for a build-up that rivaled (almost) any TV show, and…ahem…will there be a pattern available for it?
Ooohhh, my! If that isn’t the tastiest thing I’ve seen in a while! Miss Bee is a winner, and watching her evolve from mental sketches to finished lace beauty has been a real pleasure. Thank you, Anne!
Oh baby! I love, love, love the Bee Shawl! And the tree scum sock and the lilies and the tomatoes…
Wow! Needs it NOW!
And too many stitches in a row?
Fuggeddaboudit!
I just finished that christening shawl last Sunday – blocked it at 2 am, christening was at noon.
That sucker had about 1000 sts on the last rows.
This, love, will be a welcome break!
well, i wouldn’t want to neglect tree scum, i’d say he’s looking quite handsome. and the bee shawl – gorgeous! that edge looks like it just belongs–it flows out from the body beautifully.
Absolutely beautiful shawl– very well done indeed. Sleep well tonight with pride for a job well done. (Love the lilies, too.)
Your website and your knitting are amazing. Thanks for sharing.
The shawl is unbelievably beautiful, Anne! You’ve really outdone yourself this time. Wow. That’s all. Just Wow.
Simply exquisitely stunning shawl with the perfect ending. Congratulations on completing another masterpiece Anne. You are such an inspiration! Now you can go and catch-up on some sleep.
Your vegies and lillies along with the tree scum socks are looking lovely too. Thanks for sharing and restful knitting
geez laweez you’re killing me! And here I have to rip back a couple of rows on Moth. I screwed up. You are a genius. Thank you for sharing that.
Doesn’t get any better than this, my friend…..
Lovely. It was worth all the time you spent on it.
Amazing!I love the edge, a work of art!
and the socks looks good too
Utterly gorgeous!!
Those tree scum socks are looking soft. Quite handsome!
And I do love the shawl. I only kind of miss the bumps.
Amazingly beatemeous. And so “butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth” after all the moves it tried! LOL
That is one BEEutiful shawl! Just gorgeous. A Must have!!
What kind of lillies are those? My friend sent me one for my birthday and we cant find out the name of it. The smell is just wonderful. My garden is running over too. I picked fresh green beans yesterday! YUM!!
Have a wonderful weekend
can i call “dibs” ?
How can a post titled “Oh, Yawn” have so much exciting fibery goodness in it? Guess you can’t tell a post from its title.
Love how the bee shawl came out. Will have to keep my eyes open for the apporpriate yarn, but first I have Lily and Cherrry Country patiently waiting in line, while I finish my monkey socks. Back to the grind…
Blessings!
Bring on the Bee!!! I can’t wait! GORGEOUS!
Pretty flower pic.s too!
Breathtaking!! Please keep me on the list for the kit!!
It’s fabulous. A kit? I’m in!
From moths to bees – it’s absolutely gorgeous!!
I think I may know why you are so sleepy. It’s that staying awake at night, watching the bee shawl out of the corner of your eye. You have to make sure it doesn’t try to curl up with David while you are fast asleep
!
The photos of that shawl (especially the pullback shot from above) are so gorgeous that they made me gasp such that my boyfriend rushed over to see what was the matter.
Absolutely beautiful work!
PS – I love your writing style. It never fails to get a giggle or a smirk out of me.
Ooh, it’s just beautiful! Another winner!
OH MI GOSH… gasp gasp
GORGEOUS
waiting with bated breath for the pattern….
It is fantastic, Anne! I’m looking forward to the pattern.
I *love* the edging!
The shawl is lovely!
So, so beautiful!
I LOVE “Bee”!! So beautiful!
that eggplant flower is so pretty!! I never realized they were purple too!
the shawl – wow – blocking always takes my breath away – the dimension of the pattern you achieved is amazing!
Your Shawl is so beautiful, it is so lavely.
Can you perhaps tell me, where I can get the pattern?
Best regards
Lissy
Please excuse my bad english
The Bee Shawl is gorgeous.
So absolutely magnificent! I read several knitting blogs on a regular basis but have never commented before – ever. I just had to finally de-lurk to say how completely blown away I am by your absolute genius! When can we all get our hands on the pattern for this masterpiece? And I’m positively dying to know where you found that superbly perfect, must-have yarn! Thanks for the inspiration!
Your garden is lovely. Your lace patterns are to die for! I am ordering your Bee Shawl as soon as the pattern or kit is available.