Secret Shawl Society Four

One of the knit pattern designers I love is "Helen Stewart".  Her patterns are well written with clear instructions.
I believe she has trademarked her method of pattern writing.

Included with each of her patterns is a row by row check off sheet.

It looks something like this,

When working on a complex pattern which contain many rows, with different sets of design stitches across each row, it is helpful for the knitter to have a checkoff sheet to keep track of progress and to have a place keeper for where you are in the pattern.  It's also beneficial to know how many stitches you should wind up with at the end of row.
Many designers do not do that.

Helen makes sure she keeps her customers engaged by coming out with groups of patterns a few times a year.  She encourages her followers to join in and knit a pattern together as a group.

One of her signature pattern groups is something she calls "The Secret Shawl Society". (or TSSS)  This is the fourth year for TSSS and the second time I am participating.
When you join in, you basically pre-order a set of six shawl patterns.   The patterns are released one at a time during the next six months.

The first pattern of the TSSS4 was released today.   It is called "Sea Gleam".  Here is Helen wearing hers:

I am going to start on this one today.  The yarn I have chosen is by the "indie" yarn dyer "Shirsty Cat Designs"

When the shawl is finished I will have 427 stitches on my needles.  If you are not a knitter, I'll just tell you that is a LOT of stitches!

I have one other knitting project going at the moment.  It's a pair of socks for Ross.  I have the first one done and the second one is on the needles.   I'll probably go back and forth now between the "Sea Gleam" and Ross' sock. 

Socks For Ross

Perhaps I will document my progress with a weekly status update.

Well, on with my day!

A to Z 2019 April Blogger Challenge The Letter C - Hooks and String

It's April - That means I will be participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge.


I will be posting six days a week for the month of April - (with a rest day on Sunday).
Each post will begin with the corresponding letter of the alphabet beginning with A and finishing with the letter Z.

I began participating in this challenge in 2012.   With the exception of last year, I believe I completed the challenge each year.   Last year I lost steam somewhere around the letter W.
Let's see how far I get this year.

Crochet

I've been crocheting for 40 plus years.  I started when I was pregnant with my first child, Jennifer.
I became interested when I saw the beautiful items my mother-in-law made.

I think the first thing I learned to crochet was the "Granny Square".  And at the time mostly grannies were the only ones crocheting.

I've made many afghans over the years.  My most ambitious project was this one.  It's pretty cool, don't you think?

It is made up of granny squares.

Each square is about 3-1/2".  There are 17 squares across and 17 squares down.  Which means there are 289 squares.

There is one odd square.  Can you spot it?

It's kind of amazing what one can create with a hook and string.

When I first started crocheting, the only places available to buy hooks, string or yarn was the local 5 & 10, the drugstore, or a general all purpose store like K-Mart.

The hooks were plain - steel for fine cotton work, aluminum for heavier blanket acrylic yarn.

Now, of course there are many different styles of hooks and many different choices of yarn. Both can be found at a local yarn store or online.



Crocheting has made a come back and is quite popular among people of all ages and genders.




I am mostly a knitter now, but I still love to crochet and when I get a little bored with knitting, I'll pick up a hook and string.

A cozy crocheted shawl for spring

Knitting The Cane Bay Shawl By The Light Of the Red Moon

I was lucky enough to capture the Red Moon on Sunday, Sept. 27.  I took the photo at 10:17 p.m. EST.

We went up to Connecticut last weekend for my nephew's wedding.  Which was lovely, by the way.  Coincidentally, my favorite yarn store, WEBS, was a short 30 minutes from where we were staying.
There are lots of ways I can describe the feeling I get when I walk into that store.  "kid in a candy store" comes to mind.
Needless to say, I left the store with bags full of goodies,  adding a considerable amount of yarn to my already bulging stash.  One thing I know for sure is this addiction to yarn is universal among knitters/crocheters.
For example, a few weeks ago we were browsing around a local flea market when I spotted a fellow knitter.  She was one of the vendors. She was sitting under her tent with a lap full of delicate, cobwebby, glittery yarn.   I approached her, a little hesitantly, me being the shy one and all and tentatively asked her what she was making.  She said it was going to be a scarf and the stitch she was knitting is called Entrelac.
          Entrelac is a knitting technique used to create a textured diamond pattern. While the result resembles basket-woven strips of knitted fabric, the actual material comprises interconnected squares on two different orientations.

The stitch looks like this:

We chatted for a while.  She told me about a few websites she uses to find free patterns.  I admired the yarn she was using. She thanked me and talked about the number of bins in her closet which are filled with yarn  That's when she admitted her addiction.  I understood.

Anyway back to  WEBS.  They have a nice sitting area, right in the front of the store,  with comfy club chairs for the person who is not shopping, usually the men.  

Whenever we go to WEBS Ross brings his Kindle and settles himself in one of the chairs.   He invariably winds up commiserating with a fellow non-knitter (usually another guy).

Like many other yarn stores, WEBS displays many finished works.  One of the items on display was a shawl.  Actually, Ross pointed it out to me and suggested that it would look great with the dress I'm going to be wearing to the next wedding we are going to in October (my niece).

The name of the pattern is Cane Bay Wrap designed by Sarah Smuland.   

I chose worsted weight yarn from "The Fibre Company" called "Canopy", the color is crocus.  The content is 50% Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino & 20% Viscose Bamboo. 

I started knitting this on Sunday by the light of the Red Moon. 

The wedding is only ten days away so I’m getting’ busy.   I am one-third of the way done.