Friday, June 11, 2010

A Start

This is the first post in my blog. I've often thought about doing this but never actually sat down and did it. I will be writing about my life, my knitting and whatever crosses my mind. I suppose I should tell you something about myself. I'm a single middle-aged woman living in a upscale suburban town in western New Jersey. I live in the section of town that once held the maid, gardeners and stone masons for the large estates in the area, a section known as Italian Hill. Now a days, it houses immigrants who perform those tasks for the rich people on the mountain and regular working people. I spent 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry, making many of the medicines you've probably used. For six years, I was responsible for the Neosporin product line along with many other products. I was quite successful at my work. I left my job to take care of my parents in their last days. Both of them are now gone and now I find that I like staying at home. I did not have children so I have been either working or in school since I was sixteen. It feels good to be at home, doing the things I like and those that I don't on my own schedule. I have more time to do some charitable works I always wanted to do. I have time to start designing some knitware. I have time to investigate what will be next for me. Enough about me, onto the knitting.


I am participating in a challenge on Ravelry, in the ColourMart group. If you are a knitter and
haven't joined Ravelry, you should. It's free to join and has a massive repository of patterns. You can get advise and have questions answered about your knitting and other things. The challenge involves using ColourMart yarns for garments and accessories. The challenge categories are lace, sweaters, shawls and designer. It started May 20th and runs to July 20. So far I have made a shawl and am working on part of a twin set for myself. This is not a little knit since I am not a little woman.

Here is a picture of the finished shawl. The design is Threadfall by MMario. It can be found in his Yahoo group, MMario KKnits. I made it in a light laceweight from ColourMart. It is a 2/36NM cashmere in a color called Argent. If you haven't tried ColourMart yarns yet, you should try one of their sets on eBay. You get a lot of cashmere yarn for a very small price.
The second project in this challenge is a twin set. I am designing the set in a ramie/silk dk weight yarn. The set is a short sleeved, u-neck top with a v-neck cardigan. The top is made in moss stitch, otherwise known as double seed stitch. The cardigan will have lace panels on the fronts and back. The lace panels, button bands and edges will either be or include seed stitch. I am entering the top and cardigan separately. I've just started the top. I've made all the notes I need to be able to make this again since I have some more ramie/silk and a linen/silk blend for tops and cardigans. Of course I will check my gauge with the other yarns because I want my garments to fit.

I think I've come to an end. So far, so good. See you next time.

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your blog - nice to know a little about you before the MMario and Icelandic Lace groups. Your Threadfall is beautiful and lovely to be able to see a larger photo!

    Enjoy,

    Joan, Winnipeg, Canada

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  2. I love your shawl. You did a nice job.

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  3. Welcome to the blogging world. Great job on the knit shawl-it is a work of art and a good reflection of the designer!

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  4. Can't wait to read your blog. don't have one myself, but love to read other's...especially about knitting! Heard about your on the Icelandic Yahoo Group! Best wishes!

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