LACE KNITTING!

Since I've been having problems with my hands and elbows and wrists, I've been mainly knitting lace. This is the lace stole that I've been knitting from the spindle spun silk hankies and the shetland/icelandic blend. And dyed up, and here is the result. The chart is from Barbara Walker's book of patterns and charts (blue cover). And I've found a very pretty border to knit onto it. I've got about another 3 - 5 inches left to go, maybe more, and then I'll knit on the border. I'm also still spindling the silk hankies just in case I need more. Fortunately, I know the dye recipe to get this wonderful color again and again.... 

For about the last 3 days I've been spindle spinning the silk hankies you see in the background on my Bosworth spindle, and spinning icelandic/shetland to go with it for the blue lace stole that I decided to knit. In the foreground is the resulting dyeing of the plyed singles... I love this color. 

Here is a pair of handspun, hand-dyed socks that I finished last week. This is corriedale wool that I got from a local area farmer who raises corries. The fiber is nice to work with and very lofty. I love dyeing it too! It takes dye very well. And this is the result. 

This yummy looking stuff is 50 silk/ and 25 icelandic and 25 shetland blend. I spun it up yesterday. The silk was silk hankies that I got from Vicki! If you look back in previous posts (January or February) you'll see me spindle spinning the silk hankies. Well, I finally finished them, and then spun up some light gray icelandic/shetland that I've had for a while. I then plyed them together last night, and put this hank in the dyebath overnight. This is how it came out this morning! Yeah! And I got 520 yards. There was about 550 yards of silk on my spindle! Can you believe it! That's amazing. It's a Bosworth .05 ounce featherweight! I couldn't believe how much silk was on that thing. I just kept plyeing and plyeing! But, it was worth it. I think that I'll make a scarf, or something lacy from this. Pics will come soon.... 

Here is 1060 gorgeous yards of silk/merinio handspun fingering weight yarn. I dyed the merino to match the hand-dyed silk roving that I got from Charlotte. I think I did pretty darn good considering she's had the silk roving for who knows how long. I happened to go over to her house last week and see this huge ball of silk in a bin, and she didn't want to give it up. But I did convince her to give me some of it, and she gave me about 2 1/2 ounces. And this is what I got from it! I love the sheen and the colors! Makes me want summer to get here right now! I'm selling it though on my etsy shop. Go take a look at http://www.chocolateprincess.etsy.com/ 

I haven't posted any pics of my darlin niece Izzy in a while. Here she is playing "dress up" with my my daughter Katelyn. Isn't she just as precious as she can be? Look at those eyes.... they have me definitely mesmerized and wrapped around her little finger! (am I ashamed to say it? NO)