The Idea of Green

The idea of green is not quite the same as actual green, as it is grown outside.

 But I'm not sure I can do any better.

Not a Crazy Cat Lady

I'm not a Crazy Cat Lady, I'm a Crazy Wisteria Lady.

Loving spring!

Handspun

Thinking this time of a variegated handspun shawl, slightly smaller (or two sizes) ,with more stocking stitch and a simple lace edging. Hopefully would suit commercial yarn as well. Just need to decide which one.

Clockwise from left: natural corriedale, dyed corriedale, dyed NZ halfbred (colour more muted than pic, halfbred has a slight crispness when finely spun, but that could be good)

left same dyed halfbred, dyed corriedale (which is actually more maroon)

 Treetops merino, and merino (not enough for shawl)
Might save the blue for a graduated something.

Merino and Silk

 

Which has the advantage of already being spun, but is more tweedy than variegated. 

Was planning on this one, but am lured to the half-bred. Sigh.

Steve

Finished, but un-named.
The yarn is Woolen Rabbit: Chantilly Lace (in Figgy Pudding)
Quite possibly my favourite lace weight yarn so far. It has a good twist to it, is a little bit woolly, only very slightly variegated, a stunning colour which goes surprisingly well with lots of things, and a good weight. Ticks all the boxes.
The name will not be Steve (that was my husband's suggestion). He was thinking of Steve the Wraith (from Stargate Atlantis), but I suggested that Todd The Wraith would be a better kind of Wraith to name something after. Not that it will be called Todd either. Sigh.

Shameless Self Promotion

Check out the front cover of the latest Creative Fibre magazine!

I love the way Jo formatted the article itself. Such a pretty photo.

(Photo Credit: Matthew Carr)

The Emperor and the Scarab

It's often hard to photograph a shawl in the way I like it, especially when I'm trying to avoid my head!
Luckily I found this old door, which is better looking (and much older) than my head.

The motifs in this shawl are inspired by my discovery as a child of an unusual caterpillar in the gum trees growing on most farms in our region. Emperor gum moth caterpillars look like fat green pin cushions - covered in multi-coloured dots standing proud on wee spikes protruding from their fat little bodies. The mature moth itself couldn't be more different. It is large, brown with vivid eyespots on its wings. Move over flashy monarch butterfly, this creature was so unusual, and it had been hiding in our gum trees undiscovered (by me) for years.

I messed with the moth motif a bit, and another unlikely insect appeared - a little scarab beetle with outstretched wings. Done. It took a while to get these motifs working - I tried enmeshing them with other lace motifs, but nothing worked. Eventually I realised these little beauties just wanted to be on their own, so they are.

Yesterday on Ravelry someone commented that close up the moth motif looks like an elaborate Mardi Gras mask, and she's absolutely right. That is another thing I love about working with lace motifs - a bit like kids looking at clouds.

Picot points are optional. Available on Ravelry