A Tale of Two Shawls - Grey Skies

Yes, yes, I know that this is being posted a day late. My laptop cord decided that breaking in half was the perfect way to end my Saturday night. Hooray, technology!

Anyway, I must confess that this shawl was actually started in January after I had tossed Orchid Thief into time out. I needed something to sooth my frantic mind after The Evil One's relentless fuckery.

I was inspired by this raveler's Easy As Pie/Vlad mash-up. My favorite body lace pattern? Extra edgings? TASSELS?!?!!!? I was in love.

I had a ball of alpaca languishing in the bottom of my stash that was actually supposed to be used for an entirely different pattern. I had bought it at my very first Great Lakes Fiber Show and had just never gotten around to doing much more than balling it up.

I was trying to be good and just use stash yarn, but the idea of golden yellow tassels wouldn't get out of my head, so I grabbed a couple of skeins of Knit Pick's Alpaca Cloud Fingering in Daisy.

Being the giant dork that I am, this ended up being named Grey Skies because Easy as Pie's edging has always reminded me of lightning bolts. And the tassels look like the sun's rays trying to poke through the clouds.

Yep, giant dork.

This one was a pretty straightforward project. aside from some stitch fudging to get the Vlad edging to line up. Knitting 6 stitches together is so much fun.

I've made Easy As Pie before, so I was pretty familiar with the pattern.

I decided to add the accent stripe because that gold was too gorgeous to not use more of it.

Also, because I thought it tied the tassels in a little better with the overall design.

Oh yeah. The mother fucking tassels.

Biggest pains in the whole bloody world. I adore how they look, but Christ, do I hate making them.

In the end though, I can't really complain too much. This shawl is lovely, delightfully wonderful to wear, and I'm quite happy to add it to the collection.

A Tale of Two Shawls - Art and Coffee

So far this year, I've managed to complete 3 shawls already. And I'm well on my way to finishing my fourth. Yes, you guessed it. I'm trying to do last year's resolution of 12 shawls in 12 months.

But the last shawl that I posted completed pictures of on here was Orchid Thief.

I could make excuses about weather or time, but let's be honest. Sometimes, I'm just a lazy trash panda.

But no more!

Yes, friends, today I finally dragged myself (and John) out of the house long enough to get the pictures I needed.

Which means that not only will you get a new post, dear reader, filled with shawly goodness. You, in fact, get two of them. Two days in a row!

*fanfare plays*

To start things off, I'll show off February's shawl, Art and Coffee.

After the nightmare that was Orchid Thief, I needed something simple and with a heavier weight of yarn. Latte e Miele fit the bill. Stripes, which I had never done before, simple lace, and customizable sizing. Everything I could ever hope for.

I even used stash yarn for it. I did break a Sacred Knitting Rule by using two different yarn weights, but I won't tell if you won't. Worsted and DK are close enough to each other, right?

The grey blue is Three Irish Girls Springvale Worsted in Ventas. And it actually has a really sweet story to it. When I took my grandpa up to see Harps and Thistles, he did a very grandpa thing and slipped me some spending money. I picked this little beauty out with no definite plan in mind. Just a squishy reminder of a lovely day spent with my grandpa.

The brighter, variegated yarn is a awesome colorway called Van Gogh from Scandinavian Weave and Knit. I picked it up at the Great Lakes Fiber Show the second year that I went.

This was intentionally made pretty small as I intended to wear it as a scarf. Well, pretty small to me. So, a normal sized shawl to practically everyone else.

There are quite a few modifications, so be sure to check out my ravelry page to see them all.

WHICH I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO MENTION, I NOW HAVE AN AWESOME LITTLE BUTTON OVER THERE THAT YOU CAN CLICK ON TO BE TAKEN RIGHT TO IT!!!
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Seriously, go check out my social media links for all sorts of fun. Warmer weather is coming, so more shenanigans will be posted on there soon.

See you back here tomorrow, though, for shawl number two.

We're going pure alpaca, baby.

Petite Plantings

A small post for some small things.

Because it seems that my obsession with cactuses seems to have no bounds.

I mean really.

Look at this thing.

It's just so tiny and perfect.

And of course, I couldn't just make one.

So say hello to this grumpy old man.

I'm especially proud of the glasses.

And he's even got the old man slouch.

His name is Wilford Prickly.

Yes, I am aware of my dork status, thank you very much.

A Change Will Do You Good

It seems that lately, my creative endeavours are shifting.

I mean, I'm still knitting and painting. Let's not get wild here.

But I seem to be branching out and trying new things within those crafts.

For one thing, I'm trying color work again.

It's a bag with the Gryffindor crest on it. (hashtag nerd alert)

Don't get me wrong. I am absolutely loathing actually knitting it. It's a struggle to convince myself to work on it. This is definitely a product project rather than one I'm doing for the joy of making on it.

Color work knitter I am not.

But at least I'm trying.

As for my painting, I finally figured out something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Paint some space, yo.

This was my first attempt. It was based on a photo of the Milky Way that a quick google search yielded.

These have quickly become an addiction.

This one I just did by playing around with colors.

And of course I had to make one for John's desk.

I suppose the biggest news about my painting though is that I FINALLY have my pendants up in my etsy shop.

That's right. You can head right over and buy one of my watercolor painting necklaces.

Black Goat Crafts on Etsy

More will be in there soon, so if you don't see one you like now, be patient!

Lest you think I've completely abandoned all my ways, I did start on a new shawl for April.

Except, it really wasn't scratching the right itch.

So....

This beauty gets to come out and play.

And let me tell you, the change did me good.