Marnie, speak! Good girl.

Recently, I picked up Evelyn A. Clark's Knitting Lace Triangles. It's a lovely little book that gives you lots of tips for knitting, well, lace triangles. She gives four lace patterns and combines them in a myriad of ways, working them either in stockinette or garter, alone or in combination, with or without transitions.

Everything is so clear and simple, I just had to cast on. With some beautiful Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock that a dear friend sent me, recently, I quickly worked up a few repeats of the ripple lace motif. But after that, I knew I wanted to go my own direction. Heaven forfend I actually follow a pattern, huh?

On our way to the beach, I knit away on my little shawl.

The colors of the yarn made me think of the autumn leaves just starting to show, on our route to the ocean. The ripples make me think of the sea lapping at the shore. As we passed by lovely little Nehalem Bay, I knew I had my shawl's name.

This morning, I moved my stitches onto longer cords and did a little steam block to see how it's looking.

I just started my second of two skeins, after nearly finishing 2 repeats of the feathery leaf pattern. The piece blocks out to about 48" wide right now. After I add another repeat of the feathery leaf, and then the border, I think I'll have a shawl that's another 6 to 8" wide, which I feel will be a good size to work as either a scarf or a small wrap for date night with Leo.

As for the beach trip, you know that went great.

1. IMG_0064.JPG, 2. IMG_0054.JPG, 3. IMG_0006.JPG, 4. IMG_0015.JPG, 5. IMG_0030.JPG, 6. IMG_0031.JPG, 7. IMG_0057.JPG, 8. IMG_0061.JPG, 9. IMG_0093.JPG, 10. IMG_0105.JPG, 11. IMG_0097.JPG, 12. IMG_0110.JPG, 13. IMG_0114.JPG14. IMG_0097.JPG 15. IMG_0110.JPG 16. IMG_0114.JPG

See entire set here

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

We tried riding our bikes on the beach, but the sand was either too dry (thus too soft) or too wet (thus too soft) to ride on. We'll try again at lower tide, though, because bikes + beach = a darn good run for the girls.

I finished the Nehalem Bay shawl a couple days ago but it took me a little while to get it all blocked out and modeled. The lighting was pretty poor, so the shots aren't great, but you get the idea.

1. Nehalem Bay Shawl - Back (worn), 2. Nehalem Bay Shawl - As scarf, 3. Nehalem Bay Shawl - Back, 4. Nehalem Bay Shawl - Front (worn)

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Stats

Name: Nehalem Bay
Pattern: The first lace panel area is from Evelyn Clark's Knitting Lace Triangles the remainder is my own design based on a stitch I found in a Japanese stitch dictionary.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Gold Hill (Superwash Merino/Nylon)
Needles: US#4
Size: Approx 58" across and 26" deep, after blocking
Yardage: 96 grams/365 yards
General thoughts: This was a fun project, plain and simple. The yarn is absolutely delightful to work with and a perfect choice for lace because of it's harmonious shades and short color repeats. I just love that there's no noticeable flashing or pooling. The lace was interesting enough to keep me going on the long stretches yet simple enough that I could converse or watch a show without getting confused.

The size is also a good one for my intended use. I like the idea of a shawl, but I get a lot more mileage out of scarves and I expect to use this that way, a lot, this winter. The best part is that even when I get to my destination, the scarf converts back to its shawl role if it gets too chilly in the building. This makes it all the more appropriate to use a good sock yarn, since it's likely to get lots of real world wear and tear. I have to thank Julia for gifting me such fantastic yarn.

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On a totally unrelated note, my dad's colleague is going to be traveling to Vancouver, BC with her SO. She'll have a lot of time to wander around the city while her guy is at a convention. Does anyone have any recommendations for her for things she might do while she's there? You can leave a comment or click that Contact button up in the navigation bar and let me know.