It's Finished - Four Seasons Lace Shawl

Well, I finally finished The Four Seasons Lace Shawl, trying to write up the pattern is a different story altogether, eyes are so sore concentrating!

 Spring, Estonian stitch, Lily of the Valley

 Summer - Dayflower

Autumn - Interlocking Cherry Leaves

 Winter - Christmas trees

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy Lace Shawl, with beads

I knitted it again in laceweight yarn, but this time added a bead into each of the picots, it's really pretty as it catches the light.
Does my bum look big in this? - Don't bothering answering, I know....

All the picots pinned out

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy Lace Shawl

This is me trying to be arty!

And again!

But you get a better idea of what the shawl looks like from this one. It's a very easy pattern, taken from my Sampler Lace Shawl pattern, just using a combination of eyelet & stockinette then finishing off with a picot edging. The pattern for this will be in this years Woolfest programme.

This is it with the picots pinned out, blocking.

New Beaded Shawl

I love my new shawl!!

It's got about 2,000 beads knitted into it.

And I've made it to go with a blouse I bought in Spain.
Just need somewhere to wear it........

The Woolclip

Well, I'm very excited;

I had my first proper day at The Woolclip yesterday. Spent the first part of the day sorting out my display, as I wasn't too happy about how I'd left it the other week, so I'd knitted a cream shawl so that I could put that on display with a black one. It's good that they're stretched out, as you can the patterns more clearly.

And then I finished off the display in the lovely glass cabinet that had been bought for me.

It's just as you walk in the door, so I wanted to make sure it was eye-catching & colourful!

It was a wonderfully sunny day yesterday in Cumbria & we were quite busy, lots of interesting people coming in. Caldbeck is such a lovely village & I just learnt that John Peel is buried in the churchyard next to the shop!

The Woolclip

Well, it's official I'm in The Woolclip in Caldbeck,

Another shawl

Am starting a black shawl with 100% merino from Uppingham Yarns, it's so fine, really lovely to work with.

Green Cotton Shawl

Wasn't sure about this at all whilst I was knitting it, as the cotton was a bit like string, but now it's finished it's blocked really nicely.

Such a lovely springlike colour, after all the dark colours I've been knitting with. Would look lovely over a summer dress.

I just love the lily of valley stitches, they really show up nicely once they're blocked.

Another ... but with a difference

So enjoyed doing the last shawl, decided to be brave & have a go at doing it as a stole, hopefully will work out.

1st time I've done a provisional cast-on too, got a long time to wait to see if it'll work! Used the provisional cast-on as on the knitty site, was the easiest to understand.

New Shawl

Have just started a new laceweight Shawl, I'd forgotton how boring the first bit is.

But,I know it'll be worth it in the end.

Beaded Shawl

Finished! My first beaded shawl & even though I haven't blocked it yet I love it. Love the way the beads catch the light, lovely....

Our local wool shop is out of action because of the floods, so we went to Keswick today & bought a stash of DK wool to make some corsages with, some colours are for orders for friends & others are maybe for my Etsy shop, when I finally get it up & running....

Also bought some sock yarn, solid grey for husband & a multi-purpley one for me.

Not enough hours in the day.....

It's Christmas!!!

We had a Christmas wreath making workshop in our local village hall on Sunday. We had mulled wine & mince pies to get us in the mood. Everyone had been raiding the hedgerows & begging from friends to gather together assorted greenery & under the expert guidance of a local lady in her 80's who used to do flower arranging classes, she's absolutely fantastic & puts us all to shame with her enthusiasm. We produced some wonderfully festive wreaths. I think it's amazing how we all start off with the same basic materials & end up with completely different things. This is my effort, quite how it'll look by 12th night is any ones guess, with all the wind & rain we get! Feeling a bit more Christmassy now, tree next....

Am having a go at knitting socks, have managed one, but gosh they're fiddly aren't they? Don't know if I can muster the enthusiasm for the 2nd one!

Have nearly finished my beaded shawl, had a bit of a hiccup as ran out of beads & the shops where I'd bought them had been flooded, but luckily they're open again & I bought all the beads they had in the colour I needed - just in case! So have only 10 or so more rows to do of that am I'm done.

Then yesterday we had our 1st Christmas meal at our local village school, turkey with all the trimmings followed by Christmas pudding & brandy sauce, & then if that wasn't enough coffee & mince pies, had to take our pies home, couldn't eat anymore - gym tomorrow for sure. The village school has a community lunch once a month for the locals, it's 2 courses & they charge £5 & it goes to raise funds for the school. Great way to get the community involved.

Well it's official, I'm now on Etsy & Blogger as Beside The Beck.

Dreadful play on words, as my nearest & dearest call me Beck & we live close to a beck, here in Cumbria. Although a raging torrent would be a better description over the last few days, this is what it looked like at the weekend. Lots of our neighbours have been flooded with many roads closed & bridges lost or too damaged to use, all incredibly sad.

I'm knitting another shawl, but this time with beads in the laceweight linen from K1 Yarns in Edinburgh, it's the first time I've ever knitted with beads & I absolutely love the effect, I can see I'll be adding beads to everything. Although I couldn't get a crochet needle fine enough to thread through the beads to attach them, so have threaded them onto the yarn & am knitting them in as I go, very fiddly & not awfully sure if they'll stay where I put them, only time will tell!