twinkle, twinkle

Posted on Posted in lace/shawls, projects, spinning and fiber, Uncategorized

i know you’ve been wanting to see this for several days now, so let’s just all exhale and take a look

(i can’t for the life of me figure out why i cannot get a decent photo of this piece; it defies all logic. but i will get one—mark my words.)
anyhow, that’s the first part of the last part of the one half of this stole. i think i like it—i definitely like the way the lttle diamonds inside the stars are the negative of the diamond mesh in the stole body. i’m not sure about te stockinette background, but i think it will look right once the next part goes on (just wait til you see—it’s SO extravagent; i just hope it’s not too—y’know?).

i am so glad i got that done last night; after the weekend i was feeling a little sorry for myself for not having any time off. but yesterday was really nice. i purposely did not go anywhere near any work stuff after i got home from teaching. i just answered blog email and did fibery things (well i stopped at the market too, but that’s ok).

and it snowed a whole bunch last night and today—i think the kids even had off from school; that is, i didn’t see any wandering aroundor waiting for buses this morning. we’ve gotten a fresh topcoat of snow each day this week—just a dusting mostly. but today it was a real accumulation. and the temperature keeps dropping.

late yesterday i got a package from elizabeth. i am helping to relieve her of (her words) “a boatload of quiviut”. we are working out a trade, and when i opened the box, look what she added

jewelry for my knitting . . . something for the starlight wrap i think. (how did she know i’m a ho for little boxes, too?)

oh, and the yarn—i did a little experiement. when i received and opened the box, i could see that the yarn appeared to still have it’s spinning oil on. it was stringy-looking and felt coarse.

and i wanted to see what it would be like washed. so i took a sample, skeined it up on my skein winder, and pushed it into a hot bath with some of my favorite wool wash

after it had hung to dry for a couple of hours, it felt and looked a lot more like musk ox down

it’s so soft—some day it will become a wedding shawl or some other delicacy. and if i just settled for petting this one little skein for the rest of my life, i wouldn’t mind that . . .

29 thoughts on “twinkle, twinkle

  1. In the future, I’ll know to wash luxury yarn that seems a bit oily. Your “before” and “after” photos really explain why it’s worth it! The Starlight shawl looks wonderful already, and I’m dying to see what you do next.

  2. Oooh that does look soft and petable. I just got some buffalo down, which I think is similar although not as nice. I plan for it to become my Delicato mitts some day. I can’t wait to try spinning it 🙂

  3. Oh Anne, I just gasped at the beauty of your stole! I took a break from my own knitting, and here I am being inspired [once again] by your’s! You are truely amazing! Btw, I happen to love star motif’s, I’ve also always wanted to knit some lace because I used to crochet doilies before I was a knitter. Now I only use my crochet skills to do edgings very rarely. It’s funny, once I picked up knitting I never really liked to crochet anymore. I’ve nothing against it, I just prefer the rhythm of knitting(and I crocheted since I was about 11 years old.)Sorry for rambling! Just a strange but true fact to share!

  4. Ohmygosh anne!!!!!!!!! Is that Starlight Stole just so dang awesome or WHAT?????? HOW am I going to continue on with Casino once you post the pattern for Starlight??????? I am already itching for you to HURRY UP so I can paypal you and get the pattern!!! It is just absolutely gorgeous! You are amazing! Oh…… and I admire your snow. VERY cool!!! (no pun intended!).

  5. Ohhh that shawl is soooooo lovely! Yay for snow. We have gotten some, but not enough in my opinion.:) What wonderful things you got in the package. The blue markers look really nice.

  6. Ahh, qiviut, soooo nice… And I love the stole so far; I don’t think the stockingette detracts from it at all. Can’t wait to see it finished.

  7. Gorgeous Starlight!!! Hope you are knitting in front of a crackling fire with a hot toddy! Jealous, jealous of your quiviut. What a fab package you got in the mail!

  8. Starlight, starbright, which stole do I love tonight? Yours! That’s gorgeous and if the photo doesn’t do it justice, then it must be amazing. Congrats on the qiviut coup. I have yet to get my hands on any of that, but by all accounts, it’w absolutely wonderful. Whatever it becomes, I’m sure it will be treasured.

  9. Yes – I’m with you – I like the yin/yang of the large and small stars. Is this the border that you had on it in a previous picture? Maybe it was how you had it photographed, but I thought it was gathered/ruffled in some way.

    Mmmmmm… musk ox fiber…..NICE!!!

  10. LOVE that stole and can’t wait for the pattern. Glad you like the markers and the qiviut. I know both have found a good home.

  11. Oh, I really like what you’ve done with the stole. I love when the design elements tie together like that. I can’t imagine what you could possibly do next to put it over the top. I’ll be waiting with bated breath. 🙂

  12. I love the stars on the shawl. 🙂

    Amazing the difference in the new yarn after being washed. It went from looking like, well, nothing I’d want to use much less touch, to something I would want to touch, feel, rub against my cheek, sniff… Even knit with! LOL

  13. Wait – do they call it “buffalo down” because buffalo really do have wings?

    That starlight is too beauteous. I still love the latticework.

  14. The stole is beautiful! Maybe blocking will make the st st background look better. I agree with you that there is something not quite right about it now.

  15. Love that Starlight shawl. It’s so beautiful. I’ve been watching the progress on it for awhile and wondering what happened to it for some time. That color is so pretty, almost like it has a twinkle to it.

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