Noordzee and a special Wonderwool Wales offer

I think most designers would agree that sometimes the hardest part of the process is finding the perfect name for our latest creative endeavor. That was certainly true of this month's pattern, until serendipity stepped in with the perfect solution.

I've been working on this lovely little shawlette for the past few weeks, using some absolutely divine yarn from Linda at Kettle Yarn Co (more on that later). It's just the perfect little tidbit to whet your knitting appetite: beads along the border, a bit of lace, some mindless stockinette with short rows to shape the body, and ta da! In very little time you've got a lovely scarf to throw over your shoulders on those slightly chilly spring and summer evenings (aka all of them in the UK). But as of Easter weekend I still didn't have a name. I was well and truly stuck.

On Easter Sunday, I took myself, my new shawl and my husband to the beach to get some photos.  But not just any beach - this was a beach in Holland, where we were visiting for the long weekend. While the girls built sandcastles and entertained thoughts of wading in the water, Himself snapped a bunch of pictures, and commented that the colors of the shawl and the colors on the beach were the perfect match. When I looked at the photos later, I knew I'd found the perfect name: Noordzee (otherwise known as the North Sea).

Noordzee is a fairly simple knit, but the beaded edging and changing short row intervals give it a bit of interest along the border and a somewhat unexpected shape. The short rows first draw the border up in a curve towards the shoulders, but then swing outwards and down, flaring into a shape that looks almost like wings. The piece can be worn as a shawlette (particularly if you block it somewhat aggressively to get the most coverage) or as a scarf for a bit of warmth around the throat.

The yarn for this piece is Kettle Yarn Co's glorious Westminster, a 50/50 blend of camel and silk. It is soft and beautiful to work with - I didn't find it at all splitty - and the silk gives Linda's incredible dyeing skills a lovely shine and luminosity. And here's where the special offer comes in...

If you are at Wonderwool Wales this weekend, I would encourage you to go visit Linda's booth and cuddle her yarns for yourself. If you are inclined to purchase any Westminster while you're there, she will give you a coupon good for 15% off the purchase price of Noordzee. I'd bet you could even find the perfect beads while you're there...

You can find the pattern page for Noordzee here, or click below to purchase it from Ravelry via Paypal. Happy knitting!

FO times six: Annis

Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC
Yarns: hand-me-down turquoise wool from my grandmother, teal handspun, Malabrigo lace in pink and blue, dyed-by-me coned silk.
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm and occasionally, US 10/6.0 mm.
Started/finished: 11 June - 6 July 2010.
Comments/mods: I picked this pattern because I wanted something that would go pretty quickly but not be too boring. I chose so well! The pattern is very simple, but the resulting shape is just gorgeous. It's also vastly adaptable - I forsee doing a number of these with various edgings from my stitch dictionaries, and there's at least one mega-version in Jaggerspun wool/silk on the list for me somewhere down the line.

Since I did something a bit different for each one, I'm going to go in order.

Annis #1 - by the book.

I did this one as written, with the exception of using US 8/5.0 mm needles and a backwards loop cast-on to start with (same cast-on used for all). Finished this one in three days when Himself took off for his bike ride. For Boo's Mon/Friday nursery teacher/girls' occasional babysitter. Details on Ravelry

Annis #2 - handspun, shrunken

This one is for Boo's main nursery teacher, who earned the only handspun version by being a knitter herself, and complimenting me on Boo's Nemo set early on in our relationship. Sadly, she is not coming back next year, so I wanted to make her something really nice. I cut out two of the 12 stitch repeats and the nupps because I was worried about running out of yarn. I had plenty left (which, of course, I have no idea what to use for now), but so be it. Did some work on this on the beach in Cornwall while the girls climbed on the rocks. Six days - clearly I was too busy eating ice cream and lying in the sun. Ravelry details here.

Annis #3 - pink Malabrigo

For Devil's teaching assistant, a lovely young lady who is also leaving at the end of the year. I went back to the pattern without mods for this as well. And as I slogged along, I threw out the idea of doing any more nupps on these things. Too slow! Four days to finish, 32 g of yarn, Ravelry.

Annis #4 - beads!

For Devil's main teacher, whom she has absolutely adored. Mrs. A is having her first baby in October, and I wanted to make her something nice for the fall. Pale blue Malabrigo, blue seed beads instead of nupps, correct number of repeats, but I made the short rows longer (fewer of them) to try and speed things up. Three days, 30 g, details.

Annis #5 - red dyed coned silk

Several years ago I ended up with a lot of coned machine knitting yarn. I got rid of most of it when we moved, but held on to one cone of natural colored laceweight that was labeled silk. I'm not sure it actually is silk, but it dyed with acid dyes, so it's some kind of protein fiber. In retrospect, I should have used smaller needles for this one, because it ended up pretty holey on the 5.0 mm needles. Oh well. No time to go back and redo! No nupps, longer short rows. For Boo's other nursery teacher, who is also not returning. Five days, and I think I may get rid of the rest of the cone, even though there's a ton left. I didn't like knitting with it. On Ravelry.

Annis #6 - mini-version

I had 22 g of blue Malabrigo left, so I decided to try and squeeze out on more mini-Annis. Took out four repeats, yarn overs instead of nupps, and I still had to bind off a few rows early. But it blocked out to reasonable size. This is for Dev's reading teacher, who broke her foot very badly a couple of weeks ago and has decided to retire. Three days, 20 g, Ravelry.

Blocking: all of these were soaked in cool water and Soak, and spun out in the washing machine before being pinned out. I threaded blocking wires through each of the points on the bottom edge, pinned the top two corners and stretched the whole thing out.

I tried pinning the top edge on the first two, but found that it was unneccessary - just stretching out the lace part smoothed everything out. They do tend to be a bit on the narrow side however, so I probably could have gotten a bit more width if I'd futzed around with the top edge. So be it.

I'm hoping that the vast exodus of teachers has nothing to do with my kids, but it is unfortunate that it's all coming this year. The girls have loved the school and, while they're looking forward to summer break, I suspect they're going to miss everyone a great deal.

A cubic buttload of sock yarn scraps and some wire

In the spirit of working on UFOs, let me update you on the progress of the Sock Yarn Blanket, aka my Albatross.

As you can see from the layout, it's moving along. I'm actually starting to think that maybe this puppy might see the end of the line in this century. I am ignoring the fact that I still have to fill in all those little triangles around the edges. Denial is a wonderful thing.

And, since you haven't seen an actual picture of the thing in more months then I care to admit, here it is:

And here's the stash of sock yarn scraps waiting for incorporation. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the pile. I may end up not having to repeat yarns, which would be awe-inspiring.

Boo's birthday is at the end of the month. I'd like to pretend this will be done by then, but I suspect this will be a "Welcome to London" present for her instead. So be it.
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My first experience knitting with wire:

Pattern: Bijouterie by Rosemary Hill, Knitty Winter 2008
Yarn: 30 gauge sterling silver wire (white beads) and 32 gauge silver-plated Artistic Wire (red beads), very small amounts of each, beads from here.
Needles: Bamboo US 2/2.75 mm needles
Comments: OK, knitting with wire is weird, but strangely satisfying (hello instant blocking!). These two pairs took me less then two hours to do, even with Alias Season 1 on the tube. I ordered the wire in December, hoping to have them done for Christmas presents, but it arrived two days after we went North, so no dice. I love them, and have ideas for all sorts of other incarnations for future gifts. Quick, easy, and gorgeous - what could be better?