Whew! Just got back from San Diego. A “suicide” trip over and back to have the last of the body systems checked. So far, the skeletal, sensory (visual), respiratory, integumentary, reproductive, and endocrine are all “A-OK”. Ready for some serious
knit-klanning.

Here is the absolute “koolest” thing I discovered this summer. The photos show the before and after of my Black
Cherry Easy Charlotte.

I dyed this fingering weight merino with Black Cherry Koolaid, and just a touch of Grape. The yarn is from Knit-Picks, is about $3.50 a skein. Including shipping and 12 packs of KoolAid, this comes in just under $20.00. Contrary to what you may think, this is NOT MESSY. The fiber soaks up all of the pigment. You know you are done when the Kool-Aid water is clear. You could dye your project after knitting if you wanted.

This is a Lily Chin pattern, and as she states, it is the EASIEST lace pattern you will ever work. REALLY! TRUST ME! OK, I know you aren’t finished with the tempestuous Charlotte yet, but don’t be prejudiced against this Easy Charlotte. Here’s the good news–NO graph, NO stitch markers, and only 2 pattern rows. And boo-boos are even easier to fix. The back is purled. I know how we all feel about purling, but the knit side is ultra-fast so it makes up for the purling. Besides, you don’t have to pay attention to your knitting on the purl row, so you can look around and see who is watching you knit in public. Or, you can see how fast you are driving. (just kidding-) This is TRULY a great virgin lace project. You can use any size yarn and the needle size appropriate for the yarn. Hard to believe, but this is a “no-brainer” project. Remember the great shawls that Fran made for her mom and aunt? This pattern is just as easy.

time for KNITTING!

Here are a couple of summer projects—-
This is a way-cool scarf made out of 1 ball of Eros Extreme, Eros, and Galaxy. You only cast on about 12 stitches, 3 on each side are kept in garter, the center 6 in stockinette. You only bind off the center ones, then gradually unravel the sides. You tie off each loop. Waaaaaaaaaay cool. Cost is around $30 for the yarn, unless you don’t have these “GI-NORMOUS” size 19 needles. I will bring it to our first group.

I

The first photo shows my Alpha Charlotte before blocking. This photo shows it after blocking, during an inspection by Tang. Since I have seen many questions regarding the Charlotte instructions on Knit U, I am going to describe a couple of worksheets that my fellow knitters use. Oneis a spreadsheet. It shows the number of each right side row, along with the total # of stitches for that row. It also shows how many stitches should be in the “growing” sections, and how many lace repeats on that row. You can also write in which of the 4 pattern rows (i.e. A, B, C, D) that particular row should be. The other page contains the written instructions. All you really need is the spreadsheet and the four row, 8 stitch repeat. That really is all you need to look at. Trust me! If you think these may be of help, by all means email me and I will be happy to forward them to you.

This blog will be featuring, among other things, a group of knitters who are navigating through the creation of Charlotte’s Web Shawl. It !will feature different shawls, and our ups and downs during the knitting process. We all started our shawls the second week of April. At the beginning of June, we all went on sabbatical from our Charlottes, and will reconvene at the end of July. Tune in frequently for photos and written updates!