resuscitation

Posted on Posted in designing, lace/shawls, projects

the white crocuses have opened—i think just in time to celebrate a finished rimefrost sock

i wish we had purple and lavender ones coming in but i don’t see any of those yet. the darker flowers seem to come later, according to last year’s photo archives. anyway, even though the sock motif is frosty, it also looks flowery

it was hard to get a really good angle on the motif, since i was taking the pictures myself, but it’s very sculptural and has lots of depth. i’ve been choosing lately to stop my lace patterning a little further from the toe because i find that more comfortable inside my shoes, but you could certainly extend the pattern as far as you like.

i finished up the coral gables scarf last night and stretched it out to block after my morning class today. the scarf is a little larger than most of the other little nothings—about 11 inches wide by 48 inches long—so it can be worn as standalone spring outerwear.

the yarn bloomed just the right amount during the soaking and became just a tad plumper. this is the beautiful prime merino lace from heather at shivaya naturals in a stunning turquoise colorway she calls ocean.

it strikes just the right tropical note for those of us who are looking for a diversion from winter grays. the pattern was created for the shivaya lace club’s april shipment, so it will be released in a couple of weeks when the club packages have gone out.

now that this scarf is finished, i’ve started swatching for the next one—another light, lacy piece in cashmere for deb’s fearless fibers lace club; something to complete the frost series.

i think i found just the right stitch pattern for the fern frost i’m hoping to recreate with this luscious cashmere laceweight (not yet available on deb’s site, but coming soon. she does have the sportweight cashmere there, though).

while browsing photos of all the little nothings the other day, i realized that i’ve never done one in a true green color—amazing. green is a color i am constantly drawn to in all its forms and i have to actively detour away from it sometimes, remembering that other colors do exist. but i really think a green little nothing is in order. i’m still going over the possibilities in my stash, but so far, i’ve sort-of latched onto this one

as ideal—at least for the moment. it’s shivaya cashmere laceweight, colorway seagrass, which has nice, crisp, cool green tones. i sorta wih i had chosen this for the coral gables scarf, actually—the motif would look like new pea vines in this green. maybe i’ll be able to find another motif for the pea vines . . .

for the first time in months i’m sort-of on top of my workload—that is, my pattern writing has caught up with my knitting, more or less. yes, it’s a slippery slope to say that i’m caught up, and it will only last a few minutes—nevertheless, i’m feelin’ the freedom in it (very dangerous . . . can’t you just see a bout of overcommitment coming on? stayed tuned for a blubbering meltdown . . .).

so i’m thinking that this coming week i’ll work on the pattern for the tartan sweater i knit back in september (can’t believe it’s been that long already). it’s a challenging project for me, which is why i’ve balked avoided the job waited—i needed courage time and quiet to completely focus on the sizing aspect of the pattern.

while i do have a few socks on the needles to finish up, i decided this morning to resuscitate a rather ancient WIP (ok, maybe it’s a UFO at this point) to work on in classes today.

i started this sweater about three years ago with every intention of finishing it up quickly. heh. i dunno what it was with this project; every time i revisited it over the last couple fo years i had a hard time getting into it. the dark, slightly-fuzzy yarn (now discontinued) makes it hard to see the stitches, so working on it at night is nearly impossible for me. and daylight knitting time is pretty scarce around here, thus progress has been nil. but . . it’s too far along to bag it now; i can’t bear to rip it out, either.

so i decided that, even if i only work on it during class hours once a week when the light is good, it’d be more knitting than i’ve accomplished by keeping it in a bag near my knitting chair. and i’ve managed to stick to my spinning projects in much the same manner, so hopefully, i’ll be successful with my newest strategy for it.

just today i put a couple of inches on it—so far, so good. may the force be with me.

28 thoughts on “resuscitation

  1. Crocuses!! So pretty.

    I like the socks, too. The pattern reminded me of poinsettias.

    I like the stole, also. And the sweater. And I’m going to go grade now, stop being tempted by startitis… 🙂

  2. I love the rimefrost socks–the pattern, the color, just perfect. I find that lacy socks wear better if the pattern stops further from the toe. If I don’t stop soon enough, I get a hole where the lace pattern ends. I’m jealous of the crocuses. Spring arrives much sooner in Ohio than New England. Today I finally saw some tight little buds on my daffodils. The greenery has been up since the end of February, just to tantalize us.

  3. The new stole is very pretty, and so are your crocuses!
    I saw signs of spring in my house today: last fall, I had taken my herb garden inside, but as the days grew shorter the herbs had stopped growing. Now, not only are the chives and the thyme thriving again, but I was very excited to see some cilantro coming out of the ground today! I wasn’t even sure that anything would come out of the coriander seeds I had planted, so I was really happy to see that they couldn’t resist the longer days and the warm sun we’ve been having lately!

  4. Coral Gables came out beautifully. Perfect mesh of pattern and yarn.

    I’m excited that you are back to working on the tartan cardi, I love the looks of it and would like to have it in the queue for next fall.

    My New England Red Maplewing yarn arrived today and it is even more beautiful than I had imagined possible. I love it, I just need to finish two other shawls first (sigh).

  5. The rimefrost socks are amazing. I think I’m in love!

    You are so right to stop the lace away from the toes, for my money. Comfort is everything, and it’s inside the shoe, after all.

  6. LOVE the flowers! you lucky girl!!

    The socks are absolutely stunning! I must knit them 🙂 and the wrap is beautiful!

    The cashmere is to die for! I must buy some 🙂

    The sweater is beautiful too 🙂

    You are so productive! amazing 🙂

  7. Okay, that scarf color is extremely Tiffany-ish. It’s beautiful!!! You are such a crank knitter Anne. Crank Crank Crank. You just churn out so much beautiful stuff!!!

  8. I’d be jealous of your crocuses if we didn’t have wild violets coming up on the lawn (finally—spring is behind schedule over here)!

    What a relief to know I’m not the only one with an unfinished sweater languishing on the needles. Beautiful socks, and I think I have a crush on the scarf.

  9. The Coral Gables scarf looks lovely.
    It would also lend itself really well to becoming beaded – an evening version perhaps?

  10. Oh, I love the coral gables scarf, so pretty with the leaves in squares! And do work on that sweater, it looks really nice.

    We have yellow crocuses blooming, the purple ones are just above the dirt. They are always later here.

  11. I hope you actually finish that sweater – I think it will be quite stunning when it’s done!

    All those greens are perfect for this time of year too. Project Spectrum #4 is looking at green right now too.

  12. The socks looks great! And all of those lovely yarns to play with — the seagrass colorway is stunning 🙂 I’m also loving that sweater (greys, mmm…) — I hope the new strategy works 🙂

  13. Those socks are just SO elegant! Drop me a line if you still want me to test knit that sweater, I have the yarn for it and I have recently cleaned out my WIP line up a bit so I have the time for it too.

  14. I do the same thing. As soon as I get all my projects squared away, I’m off and running with other new things. Then I sit down and look at my calendar and realize its going to take a miracle of epic porpotions to get it all done!

    Still doesn’t stop me, though. 😉

  15. The lavender crocuses came up first here in Brooklyn. Any color is fine with me. Spring again!
    How do you get so much knitting done? I am now struggling with forced leisure (AKA sudden unemployment) and I still don’t get as much done as you do. And I have been knitting since 1969 too.

  16. Anne,
    are you going to offer the rime frost socks????
    I’m anxiously waiting in hope.

  17. My dark crocuses came up about 10 days after my white with purple striped ones. So, I think your conjecture is absolutely correct!

  18. My crocuses look pretty feeble this year; must be time to replant. Now i’m really looking forward to seeing the 150 tulip bulbs we planted last fall.

    I’m glad to hear that you’re going to make the tartan sweater pattern available; I’ve been waiting for that one.

  19. I love the rimefrost socks! Can you tell me where the pattern is from or where the lace pattern can be found? I would love to make some of those.

    Also I really enjoyed all the photos of the spring bulbs making their appearance:)

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