Four Seasons Lace Shawl

We've had the most fantastic couple of days here, 24 degrees in the sun, according to the hubby's Xmas present of a fancy temperature gauge, however that does drop to freezing overnight, but even the dog was too hot this afternoon & had to lie on the patio to cool down!

Anyway, I'm making headway with the new shawl, have done 2 patterns now, Spring & Summer, Lily of the Valley & Dayflower, now I need to find a nice leaf pattern for Autumn. Am a bit worried it's going to end up rather big, usually I do 3 different stitches in a shawl pattern, but this will obviously take up 4, so will have to see how it ends up, will try & take some photos tomorrow.

Thinking of a new pattern...

Trying to think of coming up with some new patterns, was either thinking of a stole/scarf with 12 different patterns & calling it a calendar scarf, but it's difficult to come up with patterns that represent each month.  Or my other thought is Four Seasons, that might be easier, only coming up with 4 patterns!

Seashore Lace Shawl

This is how I write my knitting patterns, mad or what! I have to visualise the pattern & work out the yo's to see how the pattern alters as it increases.

I have the knitted the pattern a 2nd time to check what I've typed is correct, found a couple of little mistakes but it worked.  This is the shawl once it's been blocked.

 

Visiting London

Just had a wonderful weekend in London, went to see Kristen Scott Thomas, Rufus Sewell & Lia Williams in Old Times, a Harold Pinter play, very odd to say the least!  The actors were fantastic & am so glad I saw them but the play was strange!

Anyway went to the V&A & one of my favourite rooms is the Cast Room, where they have plaster casts of famous buildings.  I just think it's absolutely amazing how they took the casts & then manage to put them together.

 Then there was a ballgown exhibition, this was a beautiful lace collar.

 The embroidery on this evening coat was so beautiful, cow parsley heads, i think.

 And then the knitted swimsuit, so practical!

The entrance to The V&A with the wonderful glass sculpture.

We had a lovely lunch at The V&A Cafe

 And then we went to Chinatown as we're having people over for dinner on Chinese New Year, so picked up some bits & pieces there.

I'm Back!!

Well I haven't been here for a while, 2012, wasn't the best of years.  So will just draw a line under it & start afresh for 2013.

And I have been busy, designing a new lace shawl.  I've called it Summer Seashore in the hope that we do get a summer this year.

It has 3 different designs, 1 that looks like a mussel's shell, then print 'o' the wave & cockleshell, all traditional Shetland designs.
 

A certain **th birthday

Some very kind friends took me out for a birthday treat, it was my 50th, which is far too awful to think about, but we went to Askham Hall for lunch & fell in love with this little piggies, 7 in all, they were so adorable.

 Anyway, after tearing ourselves away from the piglets we had a lovely drive through Lowther Castle grounds, we decided not to stop as they were emptying the portaloos from the weekends show, so was a bit smelly to say the least, so we carried on to Larch Cottge Nursery at Melkinthorpe, which is always a delight.

 Oh how I wish my borders looked like this.....

 The owner of Larch Cottage Nursery has built this all over the last few years, previously it was a scrap metal yard, he's even building a chapel, which you can see in the distance, so that he can marry his partner, now that really is true love!

Easy Peasy Lace Shawl

I knitted my Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy Lace Shawl in 2 ply lilac lambswool, with 2 beads on the picot edging, I was really pleased how this turned out, it's so lovely & soft & drapes wonderfully.