Sunday, July 24, 2011

Fiberbee!

I made a lovely discovery while browsing around etsy the other day. The dyer who made the roving that I used to make the Firebird Shawlette is back in business! It appears that the dyer went on a short hiatus, but she's back now, with more than one lovely gradient available in her shop.

The seller of whom I speak is Fiberbee She's located in New Zealand and if you're lucky enough to live in New Zealand, it's free shipping for you! If not, well, I think she charges very reasonable shipping prices internationally. I can also vouch for her fibers, having spun up her polwarth roving in Hibiscus. I've washed it several times now, and her dyes are very well set. I've had only a little bleeding come off of this fiber, even after forgetting about it and letting it soak for several hours. The polwarth was a dream to spin and deliciously soft. I wear my firebird shawl as a scarf all the time in winter. I'd definitely buy from her again!

Go, check out her etsy shop, and give one of her fibers a spin.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Firebird goes live!

Happy news! For those of you not on Ravelry, my new pattern is now available for the general public to see. I'm offering my patterns for sale on Pattern Fish.Allow me to introduce you to the Firebird Shawlette.



This pattern would work well in most sock weight yarns - anything from fingering to sport weight. It only takes about 370 yards, so you can get a lovely shawlette out of your average ball of sock yarn. It's a pretty simple pattern that starts out with main body in stockinette before flowing into 3 lace motifs.



The lace motifs are all charted, and fairly simple - the only stitches you'll need to know are yarn overs (YO), knit 2 together (k2tog), slip slip knit (ssk), and center double decrease (CCD). There are also more advanced options included in the pattern instructions for knitters looking for something with a little challenge. I've included instructions for beads and a crochet edge, which is the edging featured in all these photos.



I hope you like this pattern as much as I do, I had so much fun coming up with it!
Welcome to Crazytown, where my friends have proclaimed me queen. Why did they do that you ask? For some reason, there's very little that I fear about knitting. Hmm, a dress in laceweight done in lace knitting written by vogue? Sounds great! I have very few inhibitions when it comes to knitting, and that sometimes ends disasteriously. Apparently, other people think this signifies a level of crazy that only the royalty can attain. Follow along with my escapades as I dive head first into all sorts of insane techniques and projects without much more than an "Oh! That looks pretty, I can make it!"

Those will probably be my famous last words.