You Make My Day!

I am back to pass the torch on! I mentioned in my previous post that Fleegle passed this lovely award to me several days ago. I understand that if I don't pass it along I will begin dropping stitches at any moment. Goodness knows, we can't be having any of that...

I am relatively new to the blog world and don't read that many blogs because of lack of time. I tried my best to share with some special bloggers, and now each of them can pass the torch on!

In no particular order, I give you:

Jeri Riggs, a new friend of mine who knits and designs, takes excellent knitting photographs, and go look at her art quilts…AMAZING!

Elizabeth, a fine organizer, knitter and a friend of mine. She started a local knitting group which has become a wonderful gathering of fine women.

Brenda, another friend of mine, a wonderful photographer, knitter and weaver. Go look at her stuff…WOW!

I don’t know this person, but I am amazed by her doily gallery. What a knitter…

http://lankakomero.blogspot.com/

Superb cat, food and lace pictures, from another person I don’t know but share several interests with, eh?

http://www.fluffbuff.com/

Kat, who has helped me with technical blog advice since I first posted, and she is a wonderful knitter! Check out her lovely work.

Nurhanne, of YarnOver fame, who also keeps a blog. She is a queen among lace knitters and a very generous person. Take a look at her website to see what I mean.

Just take a look at the wealth of excellent information on this blog. This is a very generous person also.

http://techknitting.blogspot.com/

Always good for a few laughs and some quality knitting on this blog!

http://www.goknitinyourhat.blogspot.com/

Suggested by one of my readers, a lovely combination of food and fiber, which can’t be beat…

http://www.yarnstorm.blogs.com/

That was good fun! Enjoy! I will be back in a day or two with a special treat. I have a friend who I taught to knit, and she has become my star student. You will love what she has done. Just you wait...

The BadCat January update!

So today I have a little of this and a lot of that! I thought I would share a few of the goodies I amassed this holiday season. I also thought I would give an update about the goings-on on my needles.

Shall we start with some books and patterns? If you are looking for complex lace designs, look no more! Here they are. There are so many amazing patterns, I don't know what to knit first. I have a few ideas though...Knitted Lace Designs of the Modern Mode Bk1, by Kazuko Ichida
Knitted Lace in the Modern Mode Bk2, by Naoko Ichida
Tricot Hogar #1
Lavori Artistici #11
These are all available here:
http://www.lacis.com/catalog/catalog.html

Engeln Spitzenstricken: Individual Engeln patterns found by selecting the English-speaking flag on the top right and looking at the lace patterns.
Kunststricken Grobe und Kleine can be found as above, but selecting the lace books!
These are available here:
http://www.bastelundhobbykiste.de/index


The next fine stuff I have to show you came from Colourmart. What can I say? My order arrived in 6 days from the time I placed it and the yarn is perfect. It is hard to get really lovely fibers in very fine weights, so this is a special source for me. Don’t drool on your keyboard.
http://www.colourmart.com/
This is 3/45 cashmere/silk in the Lavender Silk color
This is 3/45 cashmere/silk in the Dust color
This is 2/65 cashmere/cotton in the Slate color
This is 2/28 merino/tencel/cashmere in the Silver color
This is 2/28 cashmere/merino in the Candy color. I also got some 2/28 lambswool/silk in the stone color, but I didn't have a picture to show you. You can imagine... Each of these cones is 100 grams and between 2000 and 3000 yards, which is enough for any of the large designs in any of the books and patterns you saw above. So many fine choices!

I feel like a kid in a candy store. Is this not mouth watering? This lace-weight yarn is not as skinny as the yarns I got from Colourmart, but it is a true lace-weight yarn in the softest lamb’s wool. It has lots of give and blocks wonderfully, so this is another special source for me. My recent Sampler Stole was knit with this yarn and is lovely.

You can see all the new Lacey Lamb colors on the Jade Sapphire website. ENJOY!

http://www.jadesapphire.com/

Don't think I am all stash and no action! Certainly not! I am currently working on two different knitting projects. The first is something you saw a little bit of, way back when I blogged about using charts. This is Hacate:

I have finished the central panel and I am over half-way done with the deep border, which is running down the lower edge. After that, there are just the two side edges and it will be done. Expect to see it again February!

The second piece of knitting I have been working on is this:

This is an old French doily pattern, and I couldn't resist the pears. I am three-quarters of the way through the pattern, and the only modifications I have made are to the double-decreases. I have made some of them directional, where they were originally written as all the same decrease. Once the actually pattern is done, the piece will be too small to be something to wear, so I was thinking of adding to it to get a larger (shawl) piece. It also occurred to me to make sleeves for it…to be continued!

I was gifted with this award this week, from Fleegle, and I am so honored! It seems I must pass it along to ten blogs that make me happy, but here is the rub. I am a bit clueless… I read a small handful of blogs and those blogs have already been honored. I have six blogs I already selected to pass the award onto, but I need four more. Please be kind and leave me suggestions!

My next post will pass the torch! Until then, knit-on.

Showing off my grandchildren!

Here I am today, just like a proud grandmother seeing her new grandchildren for the first time. Several people have finished my Veil of Isis and Saigon designs, and I collected some pictures for you to share. It gives me a large amount of pleasure to see my designs crafted so well by these skilled knitters, and I hope you enjoy them as I am.

The first two pictures are from Kathy, who knit Isis using Skacel Merino Lace weight. You can see her piece blocking and worn by a darling model. You can visit Kathy and see more of her work here:
http://thepointofknitting.blogspot.com/

The next Isis is from Jane VanDenburg. She used Alpaca/Merino yarn. I love the contrast in her photograph.

The next three pictures are from Mary. You can see her Isis blocking and also worn. The third shot shows her corner. She added extra beads to the edging and I love the way it looks. Mary used Valley Yarns Alpaca/Silk. You can visit Mary and see more of her work here:

http://beads-n-lace.livejournal.com/


The next two pictures show Susanna's Isis. She used Malabrigo Lace, and the color variation works very well. I wish I could wrap myself up in those purples.

These are Susanna's guys, from left to right, Solomon, Zachary, and Nicholas. They are visiting with LucyFur in a virtual way today. Such a content looking trio, eh?
The next picture is from Susie, who knit Isis using KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud yarn. More beautiful work from Susie... I would like to mention that Susie made an extended chart for Isis and many people have praised it. You can find her chart in the files section of my Yahoogroup.
Last, but certainly not least, Judith Gilbert sent me this picture of her Saigon Scarf, still on the needles. I would like to wrap up in this one too!
If you are interested in knitting either The Veil of Isis or The Saigon Scarf, you can find company at my YahooGroup or on Ravelry. You can link to my YahooGroup on the left hand side of the blog. If you are on Ravelry, you can find people knitting Isis here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-veil-of-isis/people

I will be back with a look at what is on my needles, and some fine show-and-tell, later in the week. Until that time, knit on!

The Little Flower Doily Pattern

As promised, here is my first try at a traditional doily pattern. In my last post, you saw several versions, using different yarns, needle sizes and starts. Please refer to that post for final dimensions. The pattern is in three pages, with page one being the cheese-cake shot of my finished doily relaxing after a firm blocking. I didn't use starch, but if I wanted the doily to really hold her shape well, I would...actually, I wanted to use starch but I didn't have any in the house.
The second page of the pattern lists the basic materials. Again, I refer you to my previous post with the Little Flower label, where you can see how the doily looks with several different yarn and needle choices. Use whatever you have available. The instructions follow, and are very basic, with most of the real "meat" being in the chart. The chart is my version of a typical doily chart. There are no fancy needle-moves. If you use the key from page two I trust it will all make good sense! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. I will be back in a few days with an update on what is on my needles, and maybe I will get around to showing you all my new fiber goodies...let's see what I have time for.

I remind everyone that I am unable to post PDF files on my blog. I can only post JPG files. Click on each picture and either print it out or save it. The first and third pages are in landscape and the second page is in portrait, so print accordingly. Knit on!

I'm back...

And I hope to be here for awhile. Life keeps throwing punches, and I try to roll. My mom has been sick, and I was using my extra time (that means blogging time) taking care of family stuff.

Behind the scenes, much was happening Chez BadCat. As some of you know, I have been bitten by a doily bug. I decided to try a small doily design of my own, to learn new techniques and possibly venture out to a more complex design in the future. I asked for a few volunteers (victims) and I have results to show you today! This first specimen is my work. I call this pattern The Little Flower. Sweet, yes? I used a standard cast-on from a German doily pattern, making a loop with the thread and picking up stitches with my needles from either side of the loop. I used #10 crochet cotton and US 2 needles. The irregularity in the center is actually the yarn end, which was not woven in yet. It measures about 10 inches across.
This lovely specimen is from Cindy Perra, who used Alpaca/Merino and a US 2 needles. It measure 12 inches across and she used the Emily Ocker start. This link show some nice pictures of that start: http://www.spellingtuesday.com/circular_co.html
You can visit Cindy here: http://craftycinderella.blogspot.com/
Next, we have this wonderful specimen from Mary Hudzinski. She used the Emily Ocker cast-on and it measures just a tad wider than 11 inches across. She used Euroflax laceweight linen on US size two needles.

This beautiful blue specimen is from Judith Gilbert. Judith used Rosemarie's Belly button start, which you can see here:

http://mytwosticksandsomestring.blogspot.com/2006/05/belly-button-start-for-circular.html

She used Socka sock yarn, US 4 needles and is measures about 13.5 inches across.

This petite and lovely specimen is from Jeri Riggs. She used #10 cotton, US 00 needles and this cutie measures 7.5 inches across. Jeri used the same standard German doily start that I used. You can visit Jeri here: http://jeririggs.blogspot.com/

This lovely specimen is from Judi Farley, who used US 1 needles and Knitpicks Palette (fingering wt) It measures 12 inches across. And I love the picture as much as the doily!Last, but certainly not least, this terrific specimen is from Susie Jordan. She used # 10 crochet thread in a cream color and US 1 needles. It measures 10” across. Isn't it lovely?

I just adore how all these little flowers look and was thrilled to have the knitters above share their skill and time with me to get this pattern ready for all of you.

I will Post the instructions and chart later this week. I hope this will be a perfect project to work on your circular starts. Until later, knit on!

Happy New Year!

I want to thank those of you who left me lovely poems about the Run Quickly Sheep. We agonized over them, trying to choose the "best." I ended up polling my extended family and choosing one favorite, but the truth is I loved them all and I thank you from the bottom of my sheepy heart for taking the time to leave them for me! And the winner is Fleegle, who wrote:

See the fox!
He loves sheep!
Run quickly sheep!
Lest you become mutton!

That gave me a good laugh. I sure wish I had more Run Quickly Sheep to send one to everyone!

Moving right along...I finished my Blue Ribbon Sampler pattern and the knitting to go with it, and it looks really nice, I think. I used Lacey Lamb on a US1 needle and it blocked very well. I spent most of my holiday knitting time on that, so I don't have any other knitting to show you. The Lacey Lamb sampler and pattern will be available to see at TNNA: http://www.tnna.org/TradeShows/WinterShow/tabid/119/Default.aspx
which is coming up later this month, so stop by the Jade Sapphire booth if you are there and take a look!
I will be back over the coming weekend, when I hope to show you what Santa-sheep brought me for the holidays. Until then, knit on!

The First Annual BadCat Holiday Contest

This week finds me as busy as ever, with no time for new knitting and even less time for new designs. It could make me almost as cranky as my little "Party Pooper" sheep. I got him last year, and if you push him down, his tail lifts up and he poops jelly beans. Every fiber loving person should have one... But I found something even funnier under the tree this year. Here is my new Run Quickly Sheep. He has "truely scamper action." I got one for me and one for...you?
Here is the deal. Leave me a Haiku about sheep, warm and fuzzy for the holiday season, in my comments. Funny gets special points. I will select the Haiku that I enjoy the most, and send the author a Run Quickly Sheep to enjoy! Be sure you leave an email address with your comment, because I can't reach you if you don't!

Here is my daughter's Sheep Haiku, to get you started:

Come, sheep in your white
Coats of warmth, to my spinning
Wheel, to give me wool.

Peace on earth and good will to all! Meow.

The Circular Start Revisted...

One of the frequent barriers knitters have, to projects that start from the center, is the start. A center start can be frustrating, especially in very fine yarn; frustrating but achievable. The more you do it the easier it becomes. Practice makes perfect and all that... Less experienced knitters should not avoid patterns that have a center start. I suggest you do the opposite. Jump in and try a few different techniques. There are many free patterns on the Internet for doilies, which usually have a center start. The start for my recent doily involved making a loop and picking up stitches from either side of the "hole," placing the stitches on double pointed needles, and pulling both ends to snug it up. You can see the results here. Fleegle shows an excellent technique that involves the same process, using two circular needles. You can see a full discussion of her technique here: http://fleeglesblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/simple-ring-beginning-for-circular.html
I used an entirely different technique for The Veil of Isis, because I started with only four stitches, which is a different challenge. You can see the entire process for that technique here: http://badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/2007/07/what-is-on-my-needles-circular-start.html

Another blogger, Rosemarie Buchanan, shows yet another excellent circular start here: http://mytwosticksandsomestring.blogspot.com/2006/05/belly-button-start-for-circular.html , which she calls a "belly button" start. Another great option for a center start with few stitches.

Yet another excellent resource can be found here at Judy Gibson's site: http://tiajudy.com/ocker.htm , which covers Emily Ocker's circular start. You can also find an illustrated description of the same start here, in this wonderful book.

The circular start is at the back of the book, but it comes along with a discussion of Pi Shawls (and other great EZ stuff.) Just think! For very little money, you can buy this book, see an excellent circular start AND try it to make a Pi shawl! What could be better? Maybe a doily, you say? Well try this: http://www.yarnover.net/thisthat/beginner.html

This website is owned and maintained by Nurhanne Reckweg, who has translated some of the best doily patterns on the Internet, and the above link takes you to some tips and tricks for doily knitting. While you are on her site, I suggest you look around and find the free doily patterns, which you can use with any of these circular starts. CAST ON!

12/15/07 Addition! Fleegle sent me this link: http://fluffyknitterdeb.blogspot.com/2005/10/knitting-made-easier-turkish-cast-on.html which shows a Turkish style cast-on. The selling point of this technique is that you do not have a hole in the center when you are done. This might be a good option in certain situations, and Fleegle says it is an easy way to negotiate just four stitches for a center start. I have only used this technique for starting socks from the toe and hats from the top, but I will try it for lace the next chance I get. Meow...