Monthly Archives: July 2007

Fir Cone Shawl………

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Thanks for all the workshop compliments. Unfortunately, now we will have to widen all the doorways to fit Mr P’s head through. Ah well.

Now for shawl-y goodness! Here is my finished Fir Cone shawl, for which knitalong I’ve been the worst hostess ever. Blush.

Project Details:

Fir Cone Triangular Shawl, knitted from 3 x 55g skeins of Sophia 2ply (1200 yards total). I used 3.5mm needles, smaller than recommended, but I wanted more definition between the yarn overs and the knit stitches. Blocked size is 102″ across the wingspan, and 34″ down the centre. I wanted it huge, and it IS huge.

I adore this shawl, it’s so warm and snuggly and comforting. But I must admit, I’m a little tired of shawl knitting now. So I’ve shuffled off the Peace shawl onto Mama’s needles. Mothers are so accomodating like that, aren’t they?!

Mr P…….

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Well, as requested, here are some pictures of the new workshop. I wish I could do it justice, but you’d have to see it to really appreciate it. But before I show you the photos, allow me to tell you what a Renaissance man Mr P is. When dyeing, he explores his creative, artistic side. When building, he uses his caveman, testosterone-y side. What more can you ask for? He’s a master recycler, and virtually everything in the workshop is made from reclaimed materials. The whole thing was his baby – all I saw was a tumbledown shack, but he had enough vision to see past that, to what it could be, and the reality is already paying for all that hard work. So, here it is before:

The building looked like one long building from the outside, but inside it was divided into three sections with thick stone walls. These walls were knocked down and removed (2 ton of stone). The front wall was then built up, and the roof was raised, because you couldn’t stand up in most of the shed before. The floor was partially dug out and re-concreted. Now it looks like this:

We have leaned more towards function than beauty, but even so, it’s beautiful to us, because it’s our first custom built dye space. There is still more work to do to complete it, but that’s mainly aesthectic work, like tiling (eventually we would like to have the tiles from floor to ceiling, for ease of cleaning).

Preview………

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The shop preview is now up, and I’m reduced the price of lots of skeins, so there’s bargains to be had. This week sees the last of Lydia (cash/silk/linen) and Allegra (cash/silk/cotton). It also sees the last of Cecilia, but only for a short time, as I’ve got plenty of that on order.

Oh, and one more thing. I have a 100g skein of Allegra here, which I’m giving away to the first person who asks for it. The main tie came off the skein while we were rinsing, and although there is another tie somewhere in the skein, I can’t seem to trace it back. So if you have patience and nimble fingers, you are welcome to it. Look:

Any takers? Gone!

Eye Candy………..

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Ah, so many things to show you, where to start?!! Well, the shawl will have to wait until next week, as will the workshop photos (I’ll get some of Mr P in there on dye day next week), because for now I have So Much Yarn Goodness to show you. Look:

(Eva 2ply in Emperor)

(Eva 2ply in Dryad)

(Sophia 2ply in Popsicle)

(Sophia 2ply in Bark)

(Baby Lucia in Blackcurrant)

(Lydia in Lea)

(Eva 8ply in Irresistable)

(from left to right, Lucia in Merry-go-Round, Drake, & Titan)

(from left to right, Emily in Merry & Coronation)

Hooray……

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Three cheers for me, if you please.

Hip, hip, hooray! After working flat out on the new section of the website, it’s almost complete. The base yarn range is up, the dye page is up, and the tips page should be completed very soon.

Hip, hip, hooray! The Fir Cone Shawl is finally finished! And it’s simply enormous – 102″ along the wingspan, 34″ down the centre…… I had a bad few minutes near the end, when it looked like there wouldn’t be enough yarn, but I made it with about 10g to spare. It’s blocking now, so full details and photos later in the week.

Hip, hip, hooray! I’m ahead of myself for preparations for this week’s shop update. Mainly thanks to the new workshop, which speeded up the dyeing process to warp speed, and to the single sunny day of the year (it seems) which got all the yarn dry super quick.

I was planning on posting some photos of the yarn today, but it’s much too dark to photograph. It’s cold too – I’ve lit the woodstove! Anyway, photos of the yummy yarn tomorrow.

PS. Thanks for all the coffee advice, both here and on the other blog (yes, I know I need to get an RSS feed set up here, I just don’t know how, and my techie friend said he would do it, but he’s awfully busy and I don’t feel like I can pester, so if any of you are clever enough to do it, and it wouldn’t take you too long, and you could do it remotely or talk me through it, well, there would be cashmere treats involved…..). It turns out that we have a coffee factory in our town, just a little one, but they grind their own beans there, and you can go in and buy as much or as little as you want. So I’ll toddle along sometime and get their advice on my grind(and maybe some free tasters!).