Star Light, Star Bright

Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
Wish I may, wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight

The enormity and magnificence of space has always struck me right to the core of my being. From the time I was a little girl, I remember looking up at the night sky with a tremendous sense of wonder and awe. Back then, the space program was in full swing, and Sally Ride was an astronaut, and it didn’t seem completely impossible that maybe someday I could fly among the stars. Then I grew up, and dreamed different dreams, and wished different wishes, and settled into my life on Earth…but I still get a tingle when I look up into the night sky.

My favorite of all the constellations is Cassiopeia…the beautiful but vain Aethiopian queen who incurred the wrath of Poseidon and was punished by being tied to her throne for eternity, placed in the heavens in such a position that for half the year she is sitting upside down. This shawlette is based on the shape of her constellation, an asymmetrical “W”. The garter lace of the main body forms tiny star shapes between the eyelets, and the lace border on the bottom edge evokes the shooting stars that are traditionally wished upon even after the first star of the night has passed.

Wish I May is now available on Ravelry.

Sneak Peek

Remember that bit of knitting I showed you a couple weeks ago? Well, the pattern’s all ready to publish. Unfortunately, the pics of the full sized piece didn’t come out quite as well as I’d like, and it’s a pretty enough piece that it deserves photos that show that off. So this weekend, I’ll have another photoshoot and if all goes well, you will all have a lovely new pattern to knit by Sunday evening. Until then, here’s a little sneak peek:

Sparkly!

I can’t wait to show you the whole thing in it’s full glory!

Just a Little Something

So I finished Azzu’s Shawl, made with the leftover skein of Arucania Ranco Multy I had from this wrap:

Snuggly soft and just warm enough

I think I might be addicted to these little shawlettes…especially now that I’ve discovered that a) there are a ton of patterns out there for them and b) many of those patterns can be made with a skein of sock yarn, which I have *ahem* an abundance of. And I don’t really knit socks anymore…it just sort of wore off (mostly because I don’t really wear them much except around the house in the winter, and that seems like a waste of pretty yarn and good knitting). So lets see how many of those skeins I can make into more of these little pretties before I get tired of them, too. Next up is the Out of My Head pattern with my treasured skein of Sanguine Gryphon Eidos in the Tyndareus colorway.

So's you can see the pretty lace patterning.

The eagle-eyed among you may spot a rather large error in the completed shawl here. Please note that the error is all mine and is due to my lack of paying attention rather than any lack of clarity on the designer’s part. I happened to be far enough past the error and also far enough into the “OMG I’m almost done I can’t wait I can’t wait” zone that I chose to just leave it be. Also, I found the tracking chart to be invaluable as I worked the pattern. Checklists FTW! (If you download the pattern from Ravelry, both the pattern and the checklist will be available to add to your library/download.)