Anne Squared

So, the Summer of Lace hasn't been kind to poor Icarus, but I have laced on - here is my finished Anne Shawl - a Courtney Kelly design.

This was my first experience with test knitting, and I have to say, it was much easier than knitting say, a pattern written by Noro for Noro - I will never do that again.

There were some blips in the pattern, but we'll fix them. I kind of guessed my way through the edging chart, and because she didn't put a gauge on the pattern (not that I ever get gauge anyway), mine turned out a little smaller than hers - I think. Her pattern says 60" inch square, but I'm not sure what measurement she took. From corner to corner, my square measures 57", but from edge to edge, it's only 40" - and from what I remember about her shawl, and from the picture that accompanied the pattern, I really don't think mine is a whole 20" shorter on each side than hers. I don't know - we'll have to compare when she comes back to town (which is September for all of you Philly Courtney fans!).
So here are a couple of close-ups of the pattern - the center is a tile stitch (similar to the one in Knitty's Ella, but since it's knit in the round, there's no nasty k2tbl's), and the edging pattern is a lotus. I didn't do a great job blocking the lotus points, but that may have been because I cast off a bit tight.

If anyone is interested in this pattern, once it's fixed, it will probably be available at Rosie's. Courtney already has a few patterns that you can find on the Rosie racks - some are published as Rosie's patterns, the newer ones are coming out under her own line, Agnes Pattern Co. There's
an awesome baby jacket in Koigu, the 1/2 pi shawl that I yadda yadda yadda on about on the podcast, a new sock pattern, and I'm sure there's more to come.

Because it turned out a bit small, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to wear it - although
that problem might be solved with some mighty airconditioning - I can't even stand the thought of touching the thing right now, let alone wrapping myself in any kind of wool in this 90 billion degree weather - and my airconditioner is busted.

So - what's a girl to do - switch to silk of course! Last Thursday, Rosie's kicked off it's huge Hand-dye Extravaganza. I knew what I wanted, and I was going to get it - so I was on Rosie's doorstep about a half hour after the store opened (camping out also occurred to me). Sherry was already there, and of course, had been the first to snag the Anne. I headed straight for the Handmaiden Sea Silk, 70% silk, 30% sea cell, 100% beautiful! Not that I should be in the market for anything, but I was looking for something completely off the beaten path from my usual color pallet - I was looking for something to do Eunny Knit's Print o' the Wave Stole, and I found it -- I snatched it off the shelf, and it was mine mine mine! The only other 2 blue skeins had gone seconds before I walked in the door (to another lawyer, go figure). I'm 8 repeats into the pattern (17 repeats per 1/2 - then they are, ugh, grafted together), and I just love love love this yarn. It's so soft, and it definitely solves the wool problem . . .

Hmm, yes, there is wool in my little hand-dyed stash - but I needed it I really did. I had to try Carol's new sock yarn from her labor of love, Black Bunny Fibers. Carol is living out my spinning fantasy. Remember when I bought my wheel - how I carried it across town, how I tweaked it, and got it to run - how I slowly began to get the hang of it - and I was starting to make something that somewhat resembled yarn - and then it all came crashing down, literally, when my shoe-stealing cleaning lady knocked my wheel over, busting the flyer. Had my spinning career not been derailed, I envisioned myself spinning my own sock yarn - not necessarily selling it, but dyeing it, naming it, etc. But, so far, that is not to be (because to fix the wheel would be a distraction from the knitting - maybe when I go to Rhinebeck I'll get a new flyer). This skein is called Poodle, and it was named for Lisa's daughter, Eva. First, I thought I was going to do the new RPM socks in this month's Knitty in this, but I'm not sure . . . it needs to be something special. If anyone is interested in Carol's Black Bunny Fibers - it's available at Rosie's, and at Carol's Etsy shop.


And, truly - I did need that Anne you see in the pile. I had purchased a skein of Anne online at Little Knits, and it was being sold in a lot of 2 - but by the time it got in my check-out cart, someone had already snatched up the matching skein. But, miracle of miracles, there was the twin in Rosie's latest shipment of Anne - I couldn't pass that up, could I?

I mean it was my birthday and everything . . .




And, speaking of birthday's, what could be a better birthday present than more Anne??? That's exactly what Merrill thought when she bought me one of the skeins of this green Anne - ok, so I had to buy the matching one, but when you find 2 identical skeins, you can't split them up, can you?