luxurious lacy iris scarf pattern

April is such a busy month at our house.  Not only is it tax season but this year was Easter.  Now add my birthday and my grandson's birthday and it is hard to get anything else done.  My husband delighted me this year with a gift that brings out the girl in me.  He got me an entire fairy village.  Of course I had to set it up with a carosel horse to visit the village.  Here is how it is set up right now. 

Anyway, April has been fun (except for taxes).  My wonderful niece asked me to spin some angora and Merino wool into yarn and design a scarf for her.  Her favorite color is purple so I decided a lacy iris scarf would fit the bill.  This is my new favorite spinning wheel.

It spins so fast the yarn was made in no time at all.  Then came the design process.  I love lacy knits and my niece lives in Phoenix so I thought a little lace in this warm and soft angora/merino yarn would be appreciated.  Here is her scarf finished.

  

 

When it was time for the making a pattern, I looked around for some yarn that would be as soft as the yarn I made, since pattern buyers don't all spin.  I found a new yarn that I love on sale at Craftsy.com for a excellent price.  You can get your own here: cascade-venezia-sport-yarn

 

They even had the perfect color of Orchid Haze.  I love, love, this yarn.  It is so soft and it really shows the stitch definition.  It is 70% Merino Wool and 30% silk to add that shimmer.

 

I will be buying more.  Well the pattern is finished and back from two separate testers.  One of them is using the pattern to make a pillow top.  Here is a picture of the finished scarf.  I still am looking for a model.  The mannequin works to start the process.

 



 

The pattern is for two sizes: 

8 inches (20.32 cm) wide by 67 inches (170.2 cm) long or

    Long Scarf: 8 inches (20.32 cm) wide by 100 inches (254 cm) long. 

I love how it came out.  What do you think? 

All in all, April was a wonderful month.

 







Cold weather knitting

With winter weather here, I love to get out the knitting needles and make warm things for gifts or our own use.  This year I have some wonderful Misti Alpaca yarn that is Suri Alpaca and Silk.  It is so soft and warm.

My sister-in-law, who is also a dear friend who lives too far from us, gave me a wonderful batch of soft Corriedale fiber to spin.  All I have to do is add angora bunny fur and spin them together and I will have some wonderful yarn to make into something really soft and warm.

All these deep greens put my in mind of the Pine Tree's in the Rocky Mountains of my youth.  Now I am going to be busy designing a new lace design of Pine Trees.  I think I will make a scarf, new fingerless gloves and maybe some leg warmers to help keep me warm.  I can hardly wait.  What winter projects are you working on?