Next Up.....

First of all I want to say a great big thank you for all the lovely compliments on my Kiri. You all sure know how to make a knitter's day :)

I've gotten some feed back on how I did the beading on Kiri so in the next week or so, I'll do a picture tutorial showing how I crocheted the beads on. It's really easy and fun when you have the right tools and much easier than stringing 1000 beads and knitting them on plus it's easier on the yarn not having to slide all those beads around....so stay tuned for the next episode!!

Since it's still the Summer of Lace, I'm still lacing away. I finished this Caryl's Kerchief to get a jump start on holiday knitting for a special friend. I used one skein of Socks That Rock sock yarn by Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the Pebbles colorway. It's hard to see but I also beaded the edge with 5/0 orange-y, topaz triangular seed beads. This is a fun, quick knit with a lot of pizzazz and can be used as a scarf or shawlette. Note: these beads were strung on and knitted into the cast on as per the pattern but next time I think I'll try crocheting the beads on the edge and see how that works.

Isn't she glamorous?

And keeping right in step with all lace, all the time here a FKD (that's FluffyKnitterDeb shorthand, hehe) I'm also working on some lace socks. These are the Go With The Flow socks designed by Evelyn Clark from the Summer 2005 issue of Interweave Knits. A fun simple lace pattern with lots of ribby stretch for a perfect fit. I'm loving this pattern and I think it looks great in this Mexicali colorway.Ole!

Since finishing Kiri, my "big" project is The Shaped Triangle shawl from A Gathering of Lace (a fabulous book for anyone even thinking of knitting lace!) I am using laceweight LINEN for this shawl, yes LINEN! I'm a linen virgin *blush* but since linen is so cool in the heat of summer, I thought it would make a lovely summer wrap. You can see the spool of linen in the pic and the very thin "string" at the bottom of the shawl. It's rather like knitting with thin rope and slippery as the dickens!! When I swatched I thought it would need the grab of bamboo to tame the slickness of the linen but I found it too grabby. I then tried my Denise needles, again too grabby. Next up, addi turbos...yikes! addi's and linen do not play well together...WAY too slippery and the points are really too blunt for lace! So I ended up very happy with my Inox Teflon Circs. I thought they too might be too slick but they were just perfect. And the Inox Teflon has the **best** points for lace knitting. I just wish they came in lengths longer than 80 cm cause I would really love a 40 inch Inox Gray! I wonder why the Inox Express comes in 40 inch but not the Teflon?

I'm getting an odd, stiff, wrinkled sort of fabric but I'm told by those in the know (hi Kay!!) linen softens up and develops an incomparable drape when washed and dried. Perfect for a summer shawl, n'est ce pas? We shall see....

Now for the kitty portion of our broadcast, the P-Man is something of a velcro kitty. He follows me from room to room and I'm always in his line of sight. Recently, he's taken to jumping into the bathtub as I'm preparing to shower! Here's proof.....

Now if I could only get him to pay my Visa bill.....

Knit on and stay cool!!