Speaking of lace...

I just got an order in from The Loopy Ewe which is a great little place if you're looking for a reliable source of sock yarns and lace weight. And I am insanely pleased with my order. Now, I'm not a sock maniac, though I know some people are. But for me, I can never have too much lace weight stuff, even if there's no way I can knit all of it before I die (maybe they can fit my head-jar for some prosthetic knitting arms). Usually, there's not much I can't get from where I work, but there are some small brands that we don't have yet. These are three such yarns. And I love them. Love them with all my black little heart:
Did you hear that? Did you hear me squeal like a school girl with her first copy of Tiger Beat? I wouldn't be surprised if you did. From top to bottom there's All Things Heather hand dyed alpaca lace in Faded Denim, Chewy Spaghetti color Mischevious, and J. Knits Lace-a-licious color New Mexico. Ten thousand thanks to Mary over at 43 skeins for recommending them to me.

Also, I found some pictures of the shawl I made for Gail out of her hand-dyed 2/14 alpaca silk. I needed some photographic evidence for my blocking technique which I learned from lace designer Hazel Carter. People just laughed when I said it was like hanging a pelt. But, well!


It was, I think, about 12" x 96" after blocking. I just use 1x2s cut in the right lengths and sew the piece to them. The books are there to keep them in place since I didn't have the right kind of nails to stick them together more permanently. All for the best, really, since it's easier to store the frame in pieces. But this method is great. I don't have carpeting in my house, so there's no option of pinning it to the floor, pinning it in sections on a blocking board would be a snore, and sewing it to a frame also raises it off the ground a little, so it dries super quick. If I nailed the frame together, I could even prop it against a wall or outside in the sunshine so no one would have to walk around it. Plus I kind of perversely like the look of it. If it were sewn in more carefully, I could just hang it on a wall like that.