Starflake Shawl Finished

 Hi all -

I hope everyone is doing well! Things are good here. I'm continuing to knit away. I was able to finish my Starflake shawl designed by Stephen West:

Starflake

The knitting is done and the ends are woven in, but I still need to block it. The blocking will open up the decorative holes in the design. As usual with Stephen West designs, this shawl has a bunch of interesting techniques, but was still easy to make because the instructions are so clear. One of my favorite parts is the striped I-cord edging. I think it really highlights the stripes in the rest of the design. I'm really enjoying knitting Stephen West designs and am looking forward to starting another one!

I was also able to finish the knitting on my Bandola designed by Laura Nelkin:

Bandola

This project also still needs to be blocked. It will really blossom with blocking! I'll post pictures of my blocked projects when I get that done, hopefully before my next blog post. 

My final project this time is my Jimmy Beans Wool crochet blanket club project, the Wildflower Crochet Blanket designed by Lena Skvagerson. I received my February installment and was able to finish the blocks last night. Here are February's blocks:

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - block 4

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - block 5

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - block 6

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - center block

I'm really enjoying the variety in this blanket. Block 4 had a stitch I'd never done before - the Backward Single Crochet. The pattern comes with detailed YouTube tutorials for everything so it's easy to figure out what to do. I'm looking forward to receiving the March installment!!

Finally, I thought I'd leave with more pictures of Grace. I've started carrying my new camera with us on every walk. Funny, as expected, I figured out where I'd left my old little camera right after publishing my last post! But I like the new camera with a better zoom and the ability to take action shots more easily, so I don't regret the purchase. Here is Grace on the Ceran St. Vrain trail, near our house:

Grace at Ceran St Vrain

I was happy to be able to get a picture of her when she was still for a short moment! I'm trying to go to this trail more often because we drive to get there even though it's less than a mile away, so hopefully these short drives with fun destinations will help ease her fear of the car. Unfortunately, this trail is difficult in the winter because of the icy spots so we won't be going there often until things start to thaw. But our neighborhood trail, just a short walk from the house, is beautiful, too! Here is a picture of one of our daily views:

I zoomed in on one of the mountain peak because it's so beautiful:

Isn't that incredible (and don't you love the camera zoom)? But on to Grace pictures.... She loves wood, no matter the size. She will bring smaller sticks to me to throw and will pull larger pieces around. I call it "logging." Here's one she was pulling around the other day:

At home I now have logs strewn all around the front porch! I also got an action shot of her running through the snow:

And a cute shot of her snow covered face:

She will miss winter when it's over, but I'm really looking forward to summer and a little relief from trudging through the snow and slipping on the ice! But it sure is beautiful right now!!

I hope everyone is enjoying their winter!

Nancy

Super Bowl Sunday

 Hi all -

It's Super Bowl Sunday and I'm looking forward to cheering for the Chiefs this evening! It should be a great game!

I've been continuing to work on my Starflake shawl designed by Stephen West:

Starflake

I'm really enjoying this knit! I was drawn to this pattern originally because it starts with a traditional quilt block. A great fusion of my hobbies! It's also fun to have the non-traditional shawl shape, although I won't be able to get any good pictures of the points on the shawl until I get it off the needles. It also has interesting techniques. The section I'm currently working on uses a technique called "brioche":

Starflake close-up

It's hard to see in the picture, but brioche kind of weaves the two colors together in the rows and results in a really smooshy, wonderful fabric. But it also takes longer to knit so this section is taking me a while to finish. Again, the instructions for this shawl are very clear and easy to follow with video instructions for the different techniques included. I have several more Stephen West patterns on my future projects list!

I also finally worked on the January blocks for the 2024 Jimmy Beans Wool crochet blanket club project. I had been enjoying my Stephen West shawls and was feeling intimidated about the blanket pattern for some reason, so I left it sitting for a couple of weeks after receiving it. This year's pattern is the Wildflower Crochet Blanket designed by Lena Skvagerson. This pattern has you crochet a bunch of squares and then connect the squares at the end. Here are the squares for January:

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - January squares

Here are close-ups of each block:

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - January block #1

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - January block #2

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - January block #3

Wildflower Crochet Blanket - January center block

The center block, which was just started this month, will be larger than the other squares and will be multi-colored. These blocks ended up being easier than I had expected and I'm looking forward to the February installment.

Finally, I gave up on finding my little camera and I bought a new one (so I'm sure I'll find the camera in a couple of days....). I really like this little camera so I don't think I'll regret the purchase. It has a "burst" mode where it will continue to take pictures in quick succession when the button is pressed. This will make it a lot easier to get a good picture of Grace when she's running around! We took it on our walk this morning and got some pictures of Grace in action:

It was a beautiful, but cold, morning with about 3 inches of fresh snow on top of the foot of snow left over from last week. Grace loves running through the snow! Here are a couple of pictures of the trail that we go to every morning:

It's a beautiful little trail that is only accessible through our neighborhood so it is only used by myself and my neighbors. We haven't seen the moose for a couple of days now, but I'm sure they'll be back! I'll post some pictures of them if I get any good ones.

I hope everyone is enjoying their winter! Grace is enjoying walking through the snow a bit more than I am, but I'm definitely enjoying the beauty!

Nancy

Finished Glittering Snowscape Shawl

 Hi all -

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their winter! The weather sure is a roller coaster ride! I'm really enjoying the days getting longer again! Grace is doing really well. Sorry I don't have any new photos. I don't usually carry my phone or camera when I'm outside and that's where I would get any interesting pictures. One of these days I'll figure it out!

I'm really excited to have finished my Glittering Snowscape Shawl designed by Stephen West:

Glittering Snowscape Shawl

This picture is before blocking and trimming the ends. I have it on the blocking mats right now, waiting for it to dry. This was so much fun to make! The instructions were really clear and the stitches were interesting. Here are some close-up pictures of the different sections:

This is a really big shawl, which I love, and I think it's beautiful!

I had so much fun with the Glittering Snowscape Shawl that I decided to start another Stephen West shawl that I had sitting in my stash. I bought this kit several years ago as a Valentine's Day present to myself. It's the Starflake shawl:

Starflake kit

I really wanted to make the shawl when I bought it, but I was a little intimidated by how complicated it looks. But now that I have one Stephen West shawl under my belt, I'm ready to make many more! This shawl starts off with 6 diamonds creating a star in the middle of the shawl. I'm just ready to bind off after the second diamond:

Starflake progress

I already feel like I've done some complicated stuff (the I-cord where the diamonds are attached seems complicated to me) and Stephen has really made it easy. I think I'm really going to enjoy this one, too!

I also needed a smaller project, so I started my Bandola knit bandana designed by Laura Nelkin. I have the center finished so far:

Bandola

Next I just have to pick up the stitches along the perimeter and knit a beaded lace border. This should be interesting and I look forward to getting back to this!

That's all I've been working on. I hope everyone is doing well!

Nancy