Holly and Ella Knits 2

I needed a gift for my "Secret Sister' at church and I needed someone to give my finished knitted/spinning objects to. I found this pattern for a shawl with butterflies in the pattern from http://www.hollyandellaknits.com/ which is a free ravelry download. It was easy enough and the pattern is very well written. One of the ravelers suggested that I stretch it as far as possible when blocking to make it light and airy and that's what I wanted light and airy!. I think it worked!. One thing I did differently was add some beads. I used the hook method to insert the beads into the butterfly to enhance the butterfly pattern. But I couldn't find a crochet hook small enough so I made a tiny little hook with some very fine wire and it did the trick. I purchased some blue faced leicester last summer from Louet and finally after hearing everyone rave about it thought it would work for me. I wanted 18 wpi or more. Wow this is great fleece makes one look like a great spinner!!

Holly and Ella Knits

In my 30+ years of knitting I have never knit lace. This year one of my goals is to spin a plyed yarn that is lace weight. The yarn in this shawl is 70 % lambswool/30% silk and is 18 wpi (wraps per inch) The silk was dyed with coolade and carded into the lambswool.

The pattern, called Little Shells by Holly and Ella Knits is a free Ravelry download.

Another thing I've never done before is blocking, I just thought it was a waste of time and besides I like the way the projects look right off the needles. This pattern has made me a believer in blocking. To take a tiny little shrivelled up piece of knitting and stretch it out to the size you want is amazing and guess what, it stretched my handspun yarn out and made it seem even thinner, maybe even 20 wpi. Bonus, big time!!!

So, I have several lace projects in mind and have begun spinning some blue faced leicester for another pattern from Holly Grifin-Weidner and Donna Griffin called Summer flies, another shawl, this time a bit more intense and larger. Planning on gifting it to my "Secret Sister" at church for her upcomming birthday. I've read over the instructions and there are butterflies in the instructions. And she apparently loves butterflies!!

The website can be found at http://www.hollyandellaknits.com/.