Ok, I’m fast becoming obsessed with triangular shawls. So easy, so quick and so much fun to knit.

I blocked the happy starry canopy. Heaps of people take photos of their shawls draped over trees, but I think it kind of looks crap when I do it. Oh, well!

Pattern: Forest Canopy, by Susan Lawrence
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry in Happy Forest
Needles: 5mm/US8 knit picks options
Ravelry Link

NEW SHAWL STARTED!!! In possibly the most horrid, overpriced yarn ever (but I’ll get to that later).

Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, made in Sundara Fingering Silky Merino.

8 repeats done so far, which is the prescribed number, but I’m going to keep going until I’ve either used all of the yarn or it’s too huge.

I noticed, as I finished knitting for the day, that I was using a 4.5mm tip to knit and a 4mm tip to purl. Oops. I got gauge using them, but I’ve now swapped over to two 4.5 tips.

Finished! Finally!

The final tally is 291 stitches before starting the edging lace, or 6 extra repeats. I did a lot of calculations and weighings, ending up with less than 2g of yarn.

I’m pretty happy with it, the colour is stunning and the shawl shape is easy to use (I wore the blue one on Christmas evening, with my shiny new shawl pin).

Now, to block the bloody thing!

Knitting fail. Or perhaps more correctly, time allocation fail.

Yesterday was even more hectic than the day before and I just didn’t get my shawl finished. I possibly could have knit on into the night, but I was buggered and had over-imbibed and thought it wasn’t the best idea (as it was, I dropped my sock sack containing the shawl on the walk home from our last party).

I managed to complete 13 repeats, so today I can just have a lazy one and do two more repeats and the border section.

It’s definitely doable in three days, just not the busiest three days of the year. I finished the blue one in three, and I believe I could finish the shoulder shawl as it’s written in two.

I’ll try again at some point, when I’m no longer completely burnt out by the pattern.

Next up: Shetland Triangle!

Well, yesterday was a whitewash, I should have known. I didn’t even pick up the needles until we jumped into the truck to pick up my grandparents and take them to my parents’ place, so I didn’t get much done at all.

I’ve done 11 and a bit repeats (up to 209 stitches), which would pretty much have me finished, if I were doing the pattern as written, but I’m WAY behind on my 15 repeats + border plan.

Today, I haven’t even started, either. Breakfast with A’s sister, then we bbqed a leg of pork for his parents for lunch, along with a ton of homemade dips and snackies. We now have almost three hours to play with pressies and knit before we head off to our last Christmas engagement tonight.

Oh, and look what the Scottish side of the family sent me for Christmas! It’s a hand made in Scotland pewter shawl pin!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

By the time we called ‘down tools’ last night, I had done 8.5 repeats and had a stitch count of 175.

The pattern instructs you to begin the border pattern when your stitch count is 195 (each repeat adds 16), meaning that I’m very, very close (1.5 repeats) to where I should be starting to wind down. I am, however, intending to make mine five repeats longer (more if I have enough wool).

If I were making the original shawl, I could definitely be done in two days.

As it is, this is yesterday’s progress. It’s currently 11am here and I’ve spent the last 3 1/2 hours in the kitchen, baking and preparing for this year’s Christmas extravaganza.

I’m about to have a little rest and then do a bit more knitting as we run around picking up grandparents and taking them to my parents’ place, and other last minute stuff.

I really think I’m on track for finishing this in three days, even though I didn’t reach my day 1 goal of 10 repeats.

Also, sorry about the hideous photo, it’s overcast here and I don’t think the upstairs veranda (where I laid my shawl) has been washed in a while. I’ll maybe get to that after Christmas! The KP needle tip is in the photo for scale.

Oh, and Glaedelig Jul to any other Danes who might be reading this. I hope you win the Ris a la Mande prize!

I blocked out my Forest Canopy.

It went from 38 inches across and 18 inches down the middle, unblocked, and ended up being 56 inches across and 32 inches down. I could have blocked it more severely, but I was happy with the size.

I added four lace repeats and still had yarn left over.

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl by Susan Lawrence
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry in Romeo Blue
Needles: KP Options tips in 5mm/US8
Ravelry Link

I wasn’t that keen on the pattern until it was blocked. The fact that I knit the entire thing in three days with less than a skein of yarn was a bonus.

So, I cast on a new one, out of the same yarn in a different colourway, Happy Forest. I knit a woodland shawl out of this colourway in Baby earlier in the year, wore it to Scotland and gave it to the gentleman’s cousin, so this is my replacement.

We’ve loads of driving and fussing around in the next few days, so I’m challenging myself to finish the shawl (+5 repeats) in three days.

Day one, about 4.45pm, and I’ve *just* completed the 7th repeat. I want to do 15, but each one gets wider and slower, so we’ll see how I go.

Ok, here’s the deal with breaking up the yarn clubs into installments, it was going to cost a ton of money to sort it out through paypal ($110 to set up and $30 each month) which makes it not such a great deal.

If anyone is interested, we will offer the option of paying half now and half later and I will send you a paypal payment request. HOWEVER, you must pinky swear to pay the second installment because we’re buying all of the materials in advance.

Thanks for your interest!

At this time, subscriptions are only open for delivery to Australian addresses. Thanks for your understanding and please contact me if you want to convince me to expand sign ups next time.

YARN CLUB no. 1: Super Self-Striping Sock Club

Six monthly installments of our self-striping sock yarns, along with treats.

You will receive six skeins of self-striping sock, one in Wasabi, our bamboo blend fingering weight, one in HP, our tencel blend fingering weight, one in our brand new, super special sport weight and three in either Duck Sauce, our superwash/nylon fingering weight, or Sweet Soy, our superwash only fingering weight.

Please let us know in the ‘Anything to add?’ field if you would prefer Duck Sauce or Sweet Soy.

All skeins are 100g, except for the merino/tencel, which is a bit heavier.

Self-striping yarns come in two, three or four coloured stripes.

The first package will ship in the last week of January, with another in the last week of each month until JUNE (edited because I can’t count).

The cost is $185 AU, including postage.

Pay $95 now and we will send a payment request for the remaining $90 mid-March, and you do solemnly swear to pay it:

YARN CLUB no. 2: A Year of Lace

I’m sad that I can’t illustrate this club with a photo of some of the things we have planned, but we don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Spiraling are offering you a year of lace, six installments of a hand-dyed yarn and specially designed pattern, straight from the Spiraling workshop.

Throughout the year, we’ll explore different forms and uses of lace knitting, with projects including a pair of socks in an all-over lace pattern, socks in a cuff-only lace pattern, a shrug, wrist warmers or a cowl, a hat or scarf and finally a lace weight wrap.

We’ll start in January with a straight forward pattern and, as the months pass, work our way up to our wrap, expanding our skills and experiencing some nifty hand-dyed yarns.

We even have a guest dyer lined up for you.

Yarns will include 100g of Wasabi (see above), 100g of HP (see above), 150-200g of our favourite worsted weight, 100g of gorgous BFL chunky, 100g of a soft DK and enough wool/silk laceweight to make a nice wrap.

Let’s not forget the special treats we’ve prepared for each package, too.

The first package will ship during the last week of January, followed by one during the last week of March, May, July, September and November.

The cost is $250 AU, including postage.

Pay $130 now and we will send a payment request for the remaining $120 mid-May, and you do solemnly swear to pay it:

Or, if you’re feeling particularly not-stashy, you can order them both for $400, saving $35 off the combined price, AND I’ll throw in a set of the Knit Picks nickel plated needles (you can choose DPNs or a Circular - just let us know your preference in ‘Anything to add?’) you’ll use for the first project (yep, the first project is a pair of socks).

Pay $150 now and we will send a payment request for another $150 mid-March, followed by another for the remaining $100 in Mid-July and you do solemnly swear to pay them:

Let me know if you want to pay by direct deposit and I’ll send through our details.

Man, I wish I could work here every week, this is the view over Denhams Beach from the verandah. Very nice.

Bateman's Bay

It’s not all frolicking in the surf with the dolphins, though (did I tell you there were dolphins? At least a dozen of them), work has been done.

Ok, the honest truth is that I finished this before we left home, but I wanted to show it off, anyway.

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl
Needles: 5mm/US8 KP Circulars
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry in Romeo Blue

The pattern is good, easy to memorise and the yarn is gorgeous to knit with and I’m pretty sure I like the silver bits.

I was expecting this to be a semi-solid, though, and it’s absolutely not.

This is just a sneak peek, because it still needs to be blocked, but I’m pretty happy with how it’s looking:

A happy twist of fate (or rather, a happy job offer for Pants, the builder) has seen the Spiraling workshop temporarily relocate to Denham’s Beach this week, where Pants is doing a house renovation.

I ummed and ahhed about what to bring with me, project wise, and settled on a pair of socks I’ve had on the needles for nearly two months and my little portable loom with a selection of yarns.

Live2Knit Mae

On my way out, I grabbed a ball of Live 2 Knit Mae (which doesn’t seem to be on their website, sadly) in a gorgeous colourway called ‘Sea Glass’, a beautiful mix of greens and blues. It’s 100% bamboo, a tape yarn and it’s weaving up into a thin scarf for pants’ mama (possibly) that looks FANTASTIC.

Beach weaving is delightful.

We’ve named it Not Stash, because, frankly, all of the yarny goodness in our workshop has a purpose and is therefore NOT STASH.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing you to the Not Stash Manifesto, as delivered by Zephyrama, High Priestess of the Not Stash.

In addidtion, this will be the place where Pants and I keep you updated with what’s going on in the Spiraling workshop, what we’re up to, what we’re creating and what we just want to ramble on about.

The Spiraling Review will continue to be the place to get honest reviews on yarns, products, tools and techniques and to keep up to date with new and exciting yarns.