I want to thank everyone for their comments and response to “Maelstrom”. I have to admit, that I never thought that there would be such an overwhelming response as there has been. It’s been mind-blowing to say the least to see my daily hits go from a handful (my own fault since I haven’t been blogging on a regular basis) to over 900 hits a day. Now I could get a big head over it, but instead I am truly humbled by all the wonderful and kind comments that I have seen not only on this blog, but on others as well as the knitting boards. Thank you so much for all of your kind words! They encourage me to continue to try my hand at designing and trust me, there are more ideas floating around in my head that I do plan to put down on paper and work out in fiber.

Some time ago, (something like years) I made a purchase from Carol, The SilkWorker. This woman has a flat out gift when it comes to dying scrumcious silk for spinning. Usually, her rovings are just a few precious ounces and unless you can spin very finely, the final yardage of the yarn is enough for a very small project. Honestly, I’m not much for blues usually, but the name of the roving (Billie Holiday) was all I needed to give myself and excuse to purchase it. I love Billie Holiday, her sultry voice and listening to old scratchy recordings of her songs. She was around long before I was born, but there is something timeless about her voice, something that reaches deep into your heart and pulls at me. When I have the house all to myself, I love to put her on, just close my eyes and let myself get lost in her music.

The fiber sat in my stash for quite some time. I was afraid to spin it. Afraid that I would muck it up and make a complete mess of it all. Just two ounces of fiber. What could I make out of it? Then about a year ago, I needed something special to spin, I needed something that felt like a treat. I took a deep breath, grabbed Billie and sat down at the wheel. I took my time, spinning so carefully as to not add too much twist, yet being careful to add just enough twist so that it wouldn’t all fall apart. Thinly, slowly, carefully. I tried to remain consistant with my spinning. After a few days, the deed was done and it was time to ply it all. I opted for my standard Navajo ply as I could do that from one bobbin to another. No need to wind it all off, no danger of it tangling and becoming an unusable mess. Plied, I ended up with 396 yards (that works out to 1,188 yards as a single… eeek!). The finished yarn sat in my stash for another year. Then a couple of weeks ago I needed to knit something, anything. I needed a special treat during hard times to make myself feel better. Something to literally get me out of my funk and back to my old self. Of course, I picked up Billie. Then I picked up Victorian Lace Today to find a pattern. I chose the Scarf with Striped Border from Weldon’s Volume 5, 1890.

The stitches flowed beneath my fingers like water over rocks in a babbling brook. The warmth of the bamboo needles had their own rhythm as each movement, each stitch made it’s way from one needle to the other and back again until I finally cast off. The scarf looked wonky at best, pulling to one side, looking somehow lopsided. Off to a nice warm soak in the sink. I was not to be discouraged in the least. Out came the blocking wires, the T pins and the towels. Carefully I pulled and tugged. I checked to make it as even as possible, as the borders wanted to flare out more than the body of the scarf. I checked each point to get them to block the same length. When I was satisfied with what I saw and what my yardstick measured, I pulled out my high velocity fan and set it on high to help speed the drying process. What I ended up with was perfect in my eyes.

70 inches long by 12 inches wide.

I think I’m going to have to buy some more silk roving soon, after all, there are more scarf patterns in that book!

Two days after my last post, our world seemed to fall apart for my family. I’m not going to go into details, but due to good old office politics and a psychotic new boss, we lost our main income. I was not able to knit or spin without feeling ill to my stomach, but thankfully that is all past history now. After two months of uncertainty and no income (thank goodness we are frugal and had some savings to rely on!), Spurg has a new job, nearly no stress, and get this.. he now works in a fiber arts job! (yes, that is me that you hear laughing at the sweet irony.) He is still a graphic designer, but now working for a digitizing company making designs for silk screening shirts and embroidery designs for hats and clothing. Of course I tease him about this, he has taken my hobby for a career!

The full sized secret project has not progressed. In the next few weeks though, I will be picking it back up and finishing it. However, I am not going to make you wait until then for the pattern. That’s right, the pattern is available right now, for free and the link to the PDF file is at the bottom of this post! (I will also be uploading it to Ravelry for those of you who would like to store it in your library there.)

I began working on this during Mystery Stole 3/Swan Lake of last year. I could visualize what I wanted to create and it took many attempts to work out the charts, only because I had a little problem with my brain working. Finally, after taking a break and then working on a small doily version, the charts and written pattern fell into place.

I have used lace weight yarn for the small shoulder shawl in the pattern, but really, you would use any size needles and any weight yarn for this. It is not gauge dependent and really is more about how lacy or dense you would like your version to come out. Make a small doily with less repeats, or use a heavier weight yarn to create a thicker shawl or throw blanket for the cooler month ahead. In any case, I hope that you will enjoy this pattern and I would love to see the finished project if you choose to knit this!

I used 2 hanks of Handpainted Yarn’s lace singles in Cielos Brilliantes. This measures 48 inches across, but easily can be made larger or smaller depending on how many repeats of the second chart you chose to do, or what weight yarn and needle size you chose to create with.

The smaller sample was made with Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fine on US size 3 needles.

Close up of the Ocean Waves edging that I slightly modified to create a raised line between the body of the shawl and the edging.

Quick View of shawl posed with out a model, but with a sparkly pin!

Download Maelstrom!!!

Errata for Maelstrom – For pdf versions downloaded before September 3, 2008

Errata for Maelstrom written Chart B – For PDF versions downloaded before May 29, 2009

Forgive the lack of posts. I have been knitting like a fiend who is convinced that there is no tomorrow. I’m still working on the secret project and was hoping that I would be able to reveal it this Friday the 13th (one of my favorite days!), but as each hour passes, that is looking less likely. The only possible way for that to happen would be for me to knit 24 hours a day for the next couple of days without breaks for the necessities of life, and without any interruptions (read; children and boyfriend are driving me nuts with the little things they keep asking of me when all of them have perfectly good legs of their own that they can use to walk, perfectly good eyes to look around with, and brains that obviously cannot survive without my wisdom of what to eat for meals and snacks). I would list them all on ebay and try to sell them (heck even pay someone to take them!), but I hear that they only allow crochet hooks in jail, not knitting needles. (There are limits as to what I am willing to live without!)

There have been other distractions too. Good distractions in a way. I’ve had mobility problems for years due to arthritis. A few weeks ago I began taking an over the counter product with Glucosamine Chondroitin and after a few weeks nearly all the joint pain, stiffness and limited range of motion has disappeared. Heck, I tried front and side kicks on Spurg and nearly rearranged his face. (You should have seen the look on his face! He’s into martial arts and knows what it takes to kick that high, and that I couldn’t do it to save my life a couple of months ago.) Obviously I am becoming more active and I’m beginning to see a waistline again. (Haven’t seen it in years, thought I had lost it for good) I don’t have a scale, so I can’t say for sure that I am losing weight, but I do know that I am losing inches, almost without trying. (This is a good thing).

Now that I am able to do more, I am cooking more preparation intensive meals. Things that I can’t just throw into a crock pot and let it do it’s thing (although I am thinking I should probably do that so I can have more knitting time). One of my latest food passions is cooking Asian cuisine. I came across a site for Bento style lunches, then across a site that was an on-line Japanese dollar (or so) store and finally across and Asian Grocer site. Yes, there were purchases made as we have a very limited selection of Asian ingredients in our area, and what we do have is grossly over priced.

I purchased a bento box (and some for the kids as well), as I like the idea of having a pre-packaged lunch in a reusable container. I also like the idea that if you pack it correctly, you can use it to limit calories and that I can pretty much take it anywhere. (Yes, I am thinking of getting out into the world more, and even of getting a bike to get more exercise.)

Natural Lunch Bento box, bento box belt, chopsticks and drink container with a cup purchase at Ichiban Kan.

And here is lunch. These are leftovers from dinner the night before, but oh so tasty! In the top section, Tea Marbled Eggs (yes, I overcooked mine a little, sigh. But they are still tasty!) and Onigiri with Umeboshi (a very salty and slightly sour pickled plum used as filling). In the bottom section we have French Green Beans with Carrot and Ginger, Chicken Teriyaki (with a homemade teriyaki marinade) and Carrot Kinpira. All of this is tasty with some nice green tea to wash it down with.. Yum! (Some ingredients purchase at the Online Asian Food Grocer from South San Francisco. And the shipping cost less than 2 gallons of gas. Can’t beat that with a stick!)

Now that I’ve got you drooling.. I’m back off to knit some more!

Of yarn that is.. (okay, I know some of you let your mind wander there! Shame on you!) Since the sample piece is finished (and no, I can’t show you) I cast on last Friday for the full size thing that I am mysteriously knitting and that I can’t post pictures of yet. I’ve been knitting every spare moment that I can find and I am halfway through the yarn for the project. (Is your curiosity getting the better of you yet?)

I have also begun writing out the pattern today. (Yes, there will be a pattern. Yes, it will be completely free for downloading in PDF format.) I just hope that I can make it easy for everyone to understand. Might be a bit much to hope for since I’m having problems figuring it all out! Of course I haven’t even had my morning cup of coffee today (upset tummy, and coffee just isn’t appealing right now) and that might have a little something to do with any clarity of mind issues that I am feeling.

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful comments and compliments on Gretchen! I agree, she is beautiful, but all the credit really goes to Delia who designed such a gorgeous piece for me to enjoy!

It’s been a crazy week of appointments so far. Last Monday, the kids and I were at Nick’s school for a special IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting to discuss options for Nick as he still wasn’t attending school on a regular basis. Something about the meeting must have hit home with him as he has gone two days in a row now, but then there’s less than a month of school left for him. One of the options that we are considering is Nick attending every other day, for now, he wants to go every day, but we are keeping the every other day open as a possible option. If he can’t attend, then we are looking at a private school placement in a setting that I truly believe is completely inappropriate. The school district knows how I feel about the private placement as I have made it clear time and time again. That program isn’t designed for kids like Nick, but designed more for kids with severe behavioral problems and authority issues. Nick won’t survive there and I will do all that I can to keep him away from that place.

Tuesday, we had to take care of an appointment for Nick. Thankfully that went quickly as Nick was really stressed since he didn’t know what to expect. I actually brought too much documentation for the appointment, which is always a good thing since it makes the whole process quicker and easier.

Now I’m off to be silent for a little bit longer. I still have a good bit of insane knitting to do to get this thing done. Then there are instructions to fine tune and charts to be written up. It’s all going to be worth it though, and I hope in the end, you will like it. If you don’t hear from me before then, have a great weekend and wonderful Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! (And that includes the moms of non human children or overgrown children too).

I know that I am long over due for a posting and that many of you are interested in just how Gretchen turned out. Wait no more… she is finished and blocked!

First, I want to say just how much I do love this pattern! No one section went on long enough to become tedious or boring. The instructions were clear and simple to follow (don’t over think anything on this pattern, Delia spells things out exactly and even though you might sit there and try to over think her instructions, don’t. Just do as the pattern says and I promise that you can knit this too!)

The original pattern calls for a silk yarn. I knit Gretchen in a lace weight merino yarn. My initial gut feeling that Gretchen was turning out a little on the small side was correct. Fully blocked, she is 44 inches, not 52 in the merino. Out of the 1760 yards, I had a total of 644 left over. (Merino is elastic, when you knit it stretches and then shrinks back, unlike fibers such as silk or cotton). Now, for those of you who do want to use a merino or other elastic fiber/wool, there are a couple of things that you can do to increase the size of the finished shawl.

You could go up one needle size, but this at best would only add maybe a few inches. The best thing to do to make Gretchen larger is to do a chart repeat on Chart D. When knitting Chart D, stop on row 35, then begin chart D again on row 5 and knit through the last row of the chart. This will add about 6 inches to the section (this would be 12 inches for the full width of the shawl if you are using merino like I did and should increase the final size to about 56 inches.) You should not have to do anything to the edging chart different than the instructions. When knitting it, I found it to be very elastic and ruffled.

I do plan on knitting Gretchen again. Probably a couple of times as it is such a fun and easy pattern to do! This one is destined to become a gift for one of Spurg’s nice co-workers who is expecting her third child. I think it will be perfect for a light weight heirloom baby blanket!

In other news, I finally finished the sample of my secret knitting last night. It is currently blocking and I am debating on whether I will dye the yarn myself for the full size version, or if I will have one of my many talented friends do that job for me. I am also debating as to what fiber I want to yarn to be.

Again, thank all of you for your good wishes and thoughts. (I’m sorry that I still haven’t had a chance to respond, but please know that I appreciate every comment that you take the time to write.. I just haven’t had much time for doing anything blog or fiber related.) Nick is much sicker than we realized. I had an appointment for him to see the doctor today, but last night something, a mother’s instinct of sorts, told me to get him into the emergency room. I’m glad I listened.

Nick had what I thought were fever and chills. His only complaint of pain was that his throat/neck hurt sometimes when he yawned. He doesn’t feel pain like you or I do, and things that wouldn’t cause you or I pain can be excruciating for him. He was a trooper when waiting to register and he had to sign all the papers since he is now 18 (but takes mom along to help him and explain things). The entire staff of the hospital was very patient and understanding since I had made it very clear that he has a developmental disability. (He had 2 LVN’s, a Physician’s Assistant and a doctor all giving him special treatment with periodic visits and jokes to keep his spirits up. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate their thoughtfulness and kindness in treating Nick.)

He was very dehydrated, even though I have been pushing liquids on him like a firefighter trying to douse stubborn flames. The doctor said the dehydration was caused by the unrelenting fever, and his chills weren’t due to the fever, but the dehydration. They gave him IV fluids (2 whole bags), and IV medications (anti-nausea, antibiotics and non narcotic pain reliever). It was difficult to get the IV line in as his veins were “flat” and he was pretty freaked out at the thought of a needle. It took 4 sticks before they could find a vein that would flow easily. After 5 hours there he was finally discharged. You could tell he was feeling better as he began saying some of his usual smart aleck comments, his voice became much louder and he was insistent that he was starving.

This morning is a different matter though. He couldn’t keep his toast and medication down. I’ve got him on an anti-nausea medication now and I’m hoping that it does the trick. His fever’s back and we’re trying to control it as well. I’m exhausted. For the past 5 days, I don’t think that I have had more than 2-3 hours of sleep at one time. I’m waiting for him to settle down a little bit and then I am off for a much deserved nap!

He does have a follow up appointment to see the family doctor tomorrow so we can make sure the antibiotics are helping and that he isn’t becoming dehydrated again. If he continues to have difficulty in keeping fluids and his medications down today, it will be another trip to the emergency room. I really hope it doesn’t come to that and that he can get better in the comfort of his own bed.

I wanted to apologize for not blogging for the past couple of weeks. I know that many of you are waiting to see finished projects, but it seems my children had other plans for me. Last week I was in the Emergency room with Sydney and 103 fever that wasn’t responding well to Tylenol. Diagnosis, ear infection. She’s doing much better since she has been put on antibiotics and has already been back to school last week. Now it’s Nick who is sick with a 102 fever. He’s responding better to fever reducers than Sydney was, but I will be hauling his behind into the doctors as the fever isn’t breaking and he is having chills as well. No ear pain, but he says his throat hurts when he yawns. It’s a little late in the season for the flu around here, possible but a little late. I suspect strep throat if it’s not the flu. Oh yeah… fun. I’ve had my hands full trying to get these two healthy again and hopefully by the end of the week, I will be able to do a decent post.

I do want to thank everyone for their comments… I haven’t had a chance to respond to them, I just wanted everyone to know that I’m not ignoring you!

Cross your fingers that no one else in the house comes down with Nick and Sydney’s cooties.. I’ve already had just about all I can take from this year’s flu and cold season. (We were hit 6 times.. yuck.) Until next time, stay healthy!