Isis shawls, felting, gnome pots

More catching up....here is the 14th Isis shawl I've made. This one is going to my niece Channing, partly because I needed to make her a new shawl (she's allergic to the wool one I made for her last year ) and partly because this came out very small, just her size!

The yarn is Blue Heron Rayon Metallic, and oh, this picture does not do it justice. The metallic just scintillates as you move in it. It's gorgeous. There was plenty of yarn left over that I could have done an extra band, but alas for me, I didn't realize how small this would turn out. So I'm thinking the Universe meant this for Channing all along.
Meanwhile, I started another Isis:
This one is almost finished. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Ariel, a cotton/rayon seed yarn that looks exactly like Blue Heron's (I'm thinking it is indeed the same base yarn.) This time I put in the extra band of 20 rows. But I'm getting nervous now, feeling that I'm going to run out of yarn!

More about the Isis shawl. That's my pet name for this shawl and I have a very personal connection to this pattern. I've written all this here before, but to make a long story short(er), it was my grief knitting right after Patrick died. I gave away the first to his roommate, another to my Secret Pal Peacock, another to Linda - (both of them dear online friends who gave me their love and support and care packages full of lovely comforts. Peacock is not blogging these days, but there are oodles of archives with her knitty talents displayed. And Linda's blog is just begun - her felting is AMAZING!)

Sadly, four of these shawls have gone to women who have also lost a child (three of them in my congregation -- all in the 18 months after Patrick died...it's stunning...) One was made for Cindy Sheehan, the activist whose son died in Iraq. After I made the first one, and spread it out, I began to call it the Isis shawl. It reminded me of all the depictions of the goddess Isis, with outspread wings. A few months later, I was reading "And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart", a book written by a Jungian psychologist on the loss of a child. The book opens with the myth of Isis, presented as an archetypal myth of grief....

The shawl is actually Jane Campbell's As You Like It Wrap. Thanks, Jane - for all the knitting peace your pattern brings me! (Martha at RiverWools showed me Jane's new shawl patterns and I can't wait until she gets them in.)

In trying to find a link for the As You Like It Wrap, I discovered this fabulous page with a list of triangle shawl patterns by yardage - with links to sources for the patterns. What a nice gift to shawl-lovers! Thanks, Vicki of northern Indiana! (Jane Campbell's from Indiana as well...)

Oops, once again, I've gone over my bloggging allotment time (I'm trying to blog more quickly so I'll do it more often...). So I'm going to be less chatty.

Here's the lovely vintage cotton tablecloth I picked up recently at Nancy's Downtown Mall, one of those wonderful indoor flea market/antique/collectible places - the kind you need hours to properly survey. It's got faint stains and some tiny holes, but it's perfect in its imperfection. (And it was also inexpensive! Generally, these cloths with cherries and colors like this are pretty pricey) I love it on the table on my screened-in back porch, but I'm going to have to watch the sun fading it.


Though I'm busying myself mostly with regaining health and fitness (walking 3 miles several times a week, eating right, yay) and clearing up clutter and reorganizing my life....I have found some time for craftiness.

Here's where I needlefelt little shapes that I'm hoping to put together into fabulous neckpiece creations along with beads. I found this tray for a dollar at a yard sale and it is a perfect portable workstation for me. I got the little red pots at Goodwill for .49 each.

I've been making some beads, which I needlefelt first to hold the wool together. A large ball like this:
becomes a small bead like this when wet-felted:

Finally, some gnome pots. The tallest here is about 6".


I've been making the pot tops out of Harrisville, but when I tried to make the pot itself from Harrisville, it was just too thin. So I started using Cascade and that makes a much more substantial little pot. Not sure if these are finished yet. I keep thinking I'd like to add a felted ball to the top, maybe a little beady dangle...too much? I should at least do it for one and see, right?

Be well. Namaste,
'Zann