This is the Ray of Light Shawl I designed for my friend Leslie. It’s a pretty simple pattern with a couple twists. I love the sleek lines throughout it!

The design is charted, so I don’t recommend it if you’re completely new to charted lace (though it is not too complicated, and I’m sure if you have a bit of lace in your background, you could easily figure it out). In the instructions, I have also included recommendations for how to make the shawl larger (the sample is more of a shawlette or scarf sized). It only took about 350 yards of laceweight, so you could also make a heavier one out of sock yarn (I plan to do this in the future)!

Check it out on Ravelry or

Now on to-what else-socks! I’m working steadily on my Magic Mirror socks, seen here lounging on my chair:

I’ve also re-cast on my Leyburn socks in STR Mediumweight. I haven’t done a lot on them (with the other knitting going on) but here they are for posterity:

I’m working on other things too, but I haven’t made enough progress to take pictures of them/the pictures are the same from the last blog post. Anyway, here’s something funny for y’all: I knitted my friend a pair of shorts from crazy thick acrylic yarn. One of my friends knitted one leg, I knitted the other, and then I put them together to create this:

My male friend actually was good enough to wear them while we were playing a game of sardines (sort of the opposite of hide and seek) in the library. Sadly, since I finished them about five minutes before the game began (and I didn’t weave in the ends properly), they started to come apart, and he had to turn the shorts into a vest:

The funny thing is, he didn’t even get strange looks from passersby! I guess Vassar is so weird that people in knitted booty shorts fit in perfectly.

Hopefully I’ll have an FO or two next time I blog!

First, before I left for Spain, I finished these socks:

They are the SKA September Mystery Socks (aka Fox Faces) that had to be done in yellow (Pagewood Farms Yukon). They have a Dutch heel, which is interesting but fits my heel pretty well. All in all, I was pleased with them. Raveled here.

Then, I finished my Phoebus Apollo socks in Bugga! from the Loopy Ewe sock club. Needless to say, I love the yarn, though the pattern was not stretchy enough on the leg, so I ended it early and made it shorter (also I knew the recipient would like that better). Raveled here.

Last night I finished my first Christmas/holiday/birthday in December present! It’s for my friend Katie, who is a Geology major.

It’s a trilobite! Here’s a closup:

This hat pattern was quick and not too hard to do (there was cabling and bobbles, but the chart is clear and easy to read). Raveled here.

Now onto my WIPs. First, my plane knitting Ishbel in Malabrigo Lace (this is not the best pic of it, colorwise or otherwise, but it’s the only one I have):

I only really work on it when I need a stockinette project, so not too much progress on that.

Remember the yarn I won? Well it’s becoming a lace shawl of my own design. I’m designing it for a friend as a Christmas/going away/birthday present. Hopefully I get it done in time to block it when I’m home for Thanksgiving!

And lastly, I’m working on some mittens for my friend Kristin, who is super enthusiastic and gets excited every time she thinks about me making her mittens. I love knitting for those who appreciate it! I started the first mitten last night, and you can see the pattern in the background (it’s from KnitPicks).

I promise to try to blog more in the future! Hopefully my schedule will be less hectic in the next few weeks!

If you love your cat, don’t you want to commemorate it by crocheting a scarf so you can bring your cat wherever you go? And the pattern is easily to personalize, so you can crochet a scarf that looks just like your own kitty! The pattern is detailed and includes a graph for the colorwork.

I’ll write more on what I’ve been working on later in the week!

I finished it on time for my parents’ anniversary, blocked it in my dorm room on cork board and towels (with the help of a friend), and was able to present it to them as a gift when I got home for their anniversary party.

(Here it is basking in the sunlight in my dorm room)

Here are the details:
Cast on: June 19, 2009 (I really only knit a tiny bit over the summer though, so I consider the real cast on date September 1)
Cast off: September 23, 2009
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool - 6 balls
Needles: 2 size 6 circulars-and it barely fit on them!
Raveled here.

(A lovely closeup of the edging)

My parents really loved it, and displayed it over a railing:

And then my mom got cold and wore it as a shawl:

I’m so glad it was done, since I had to be a monogamous knitter while I was knitting it in order to get it done, and I absolutely HATED knitting it. The pattern was written beautifully, the finished product is gorgeous, but knitting it made me want to impale myself on the needles. No idea why. But whatever, it’s done!

Also, in other news, I won a contest! And the prize I won was yarn! I donated money to restore a fountain and got entered in a raffle for yarn. Sadly, I didn’t win the Wollmeise, but I did win some lovely seasilk laceweight. You can see it here.

I’m working on a ton of stuff, so that will be coming up in the blog soon! But I definitely wanted to give the Girasole its own post, since it was kind of a big deal for me!

But for now, all I can show you is the new crochet design my mom made. It’s called the Quick Cotton Candy Swirl Blanket, and it’s raveled here. If you want to buy it but aren’t part of ravelry, click here.

The problem is, for the next two weeks(ish), I’m working on a SUPERSECRET project. Yes, you heard me. So secret it’s in all caps. Except not secret enough that I haven’t previously mentioned it and it’s not on Ravelry.

Anyway, I have finished up two pairs of socks. The first was the July Mystery Sock from SKA on Ravelry. I heavily modded it so that it doesn’t really look like the actual socks. I wanted to continue the striping up the leg, but I did the sock two at a time from both ends of two balls of yarn, so tangling was an issue. I finally just got fed up and gave up on the striping.

Details here.

My second pair is for my beloved ex-roommate, who is off gallivanting through Spain as we speak. I’m going to visit her in October, so I’ll give her these when I get there. Meanwhile, yesterday they served as eye candy when I brought them to the Vassar activities fair to attract new members to our charity knitting club (of which I am currently the president!). I got a lot of questions about the yarn, which you can find on Etsy (she also sells Finding Nemo yarn, which I obviously own).

Details here.

I did cast on two socks for SKA September, one being the yellow mystery sock by Nancy Bush (I now have a newfound love for all things yellow) and the other being the socks from the last shipment of the Loopy Ewe sock club. The new shipment is at my house right now, but my mom showed it to me on Skype and it’s (SPOILER ALERT) Wollmeise! I’m so excited to see it in person!

Until next time, when I can maybe tell you more about my supersecret project!

In case you didn’t hear, my mom and I have a new crochet pattern for sale on Ravelry. It’s called the Lake House Throw, and it’s a really nice piece that can be crocheted using pretty much any worsted weight yarn. We used Red Heart Eco-Ways, but a nice wool would be great as well. It’s easy but also a lot of fun!

You can find out more about it by looking at it on Ravelry or you can click this button to buy it if you’re not a member.

You’ll be hearing more from me in the next few days, and hopefully I can keep the blog updated regularly!