And the Beltane Goes to...

I know, I'm sure you've been checking all day to find out the winners, haven't you?
Well, let me just open the envelope here... and

For Best Blog Participation, the Beltane goes to: Lana! From her first post to this last month, Lana has provided project detail, thoughts on the book, questions and one really lovely drawing. Thank you so much Lana!

For Best Completed Project, the Beltane goes to: Melanie and her tunic! She kept us updated on her progress throughout this gorgeous project, along with providing an excellent explanation on how she felt it related to Mists. Great work Melanie!

And, an unexpected third project category- the technical category. For an incredibly complex project, from the stitch pattern to piecing it together (click here to see this top broken down in pieces- yikes!), the Technical Beltane goes to: Jules for her Elfin Bride sweater!

Congratulations to the winners! Please email me at knitter.natter@yahoo.com with addresses. The prizes are being put together as we speak and will be ready to go out next Monday!

This was such a hard decision and if you could have heard Brooke and I on the phone there was a lot of "can we just give everyone a prize" being bandied about. Thanks so much to all our participants, both in the projects and in the KAL. We've had such a great time hosting.

Also, keep checking back- we'll have both prizes to show and maybe a possible continuation of this KAl...

Happy Beltane and So Long For Now!

Hello everyone! This will probably be my last "official" post before I leave for the Emerald Isle, but I'm sure that I'll leave a few more comments. The Fabulous Miss Em will be announcing the contest winners later today.

I have had such a great time during this KAL and have enjoyed reading everyone's posts, seeing pictures, and gaining different insights and perspectives while reading the book. Thank you for that!

A few people have expressed an interest in continuing the KAL, and we are all for it! Em and I will be stepping down as the hostesses though, so we officially throw down the gauntlet to anyone who would like to assume command, for lack of a better term :) There are a few books in the series, so maybe two people can host the next book, then two more people take over the following book, etc. Please email Em if you are interested and she'll set you up as a moderator. I hope someone does take over, because I know I would love to participate!

Regarding your book, some people loved it, some people hated it, but regardless, there is a great website called bookcrossing.com, that I recommend checking out. It's a very interesting concept. I am going to "set my book free" in Ireland and see where it goes! If you're scratching your head, saying, "What?!" just check out the site.

Well, my dears, it has been a wonderful experience for me and I hope it has been for you as well :)

xo
Brooke

Fashion Show

Hooray! The fashion show! And without much further ado, we'll begin :)

Listed in no particular order.

1)Submitted by Chrissie




"I call it a shawl fit for a fairy queen. It is the leaf lace shawl from Fibertrends, knitted in a deep gorgeous slightly variegated wine colored handspun merino alpaca fingering weight on 4mm needles. The last row is knitted with a toning shade of fingering weight mohair, to give it some fluffiness, and bound off with sparkly mohair/wool blend. It is supposed to connect to the fairy people who wear autumn leaves as wreathes and decorations all year around, the sparkle simulates dew drops or mist drops trembling on the edges of the leaves. The color is just right for Viviane or Morgaine but I think it is a shawl the fairy queen would wear all year around. I feel like a queen in it."

2) Submitted by Jules

"My entry for the KnitAvalon is the Elfin Bride sweater. I picked this project because it was already on my list of things I would like to knit and I just felt it reflected the medieval era. I felt the women in the castle would wear this top with a big, bustly skirt. Just a short description, but mostly, this project just felt like Mists of Avalon."

3) Submitted by Melanie




"Why did I pick this project for our KAL?

Well, admittedly. When I first thought of doing a project, I was thinking of making a shawl...I love me some lace.
But then I saw that many other people had the same idea. (Great minds think alike!)
Then I thought about the Lady E stole...still wrap, but different then a lace shawl...and then I noticed a few others had that idea as well.
I wanted to be different. I wanted something unique. I wanted something that really said Avalon to me.

I had this yarn in my stash, just waiting for the right project to come along. And when I did the "stash dive" hoping for some inspiration, it screamed 'pick me, pick me!" I think it is the perfect color for our Avalon woman.

Gwen says many times throughout the book how blue is "her color". And while I originally picked the color thinking of her, the entire project, including the color, ended up being for Morgaine.

So I had the yarn..now what? Shawls and wraps were out, someone was making socks already (I had done a pair as well...)..and I kept thinking about the blue skirts and leather tunics the priestesses were described wearing in the book..so now I knew I wanted to make a tunic of some sort.

I found an adorable tunic pattern in Interweave Knits, but the gauge and look was all wrong to me. I wanted something a bit more simple, yet striking. And then I happened upon this pattern from Sweaterbabe.com..and I knew it was the one.

The lace panel, the ribbon, the cabled edging..all of it make this tunic feminine..but the reverse stockinette being the right side, the twisted stitches running up the body keep the over all effect simple and elegant. There is nothing "girly" about this top what-so-ever.

I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I could easily see Morgaine wearing something like this. Or any priestess for that matter.

When I wear this tunic, I can't help but feel an inner strength. I can't help but be proud that I am a woman, and I think all the blessings that come from being a female.

I do not feel guilty for my actions, or "less then" because of my gender. I feel empowered. I feel like a modern day priestess, representin" for the Goddess."

4) Submitted by Linda

"I knitted a pattern from the most recent Knit Simple - it's a simple cotton
baby outfit that I could picture baby Arthur or baby Mordred wearing.
Simple and comfortable!!"

5) Submitted by Dawn

"Well, here are the pictures of the un-finished cape, but it is coming along, lol."

6) Submitted by Em




(Em's comments will be added later this afternoon)

7) Submitted by Brooke

"Acckkk!! So close to being finished, yet so far away! I have about one more inch to go on the lace pattern, then a small border and voila! I'm done! I originally started designing this cowl with Viviane in mind, but as I worked my way through the rhythmic stitching, it became apparent to me who this really would have belonged to: Igraine. I could envision her wearing this while standing on the parapets of her castle in Cornwall looking out over the Winter sea, endlessly waiting for Gorlois to return home. (pre-Uther of course). She would have tired from sitting in a small room with her daughters and women, thrown this on and headed out for some fresh air, leaving her spinning behind. I can't wait to finish up this homage to her spirit and wear it when I'm over in Ireland."

8) Submitted by Jo

"One of my clearest memories of the movie is of the ruanas worn throughout. Early on,
Morgaine wears a lavender one, and I loved it and wanted to make one for me the
moment I saw it.

Well, I'd probably never wear one in real life, but I would wear a poncho like this
one, which looks like the ruana the way they wrapped it in the movie.

I cast on late on the 8th of April and finished the following Monday.

The yarn is Red Heart Symphony, which, in spite of being acrylic, is a really
scrumptious yarn. I know from experience that this yarn will just get more and more
fuzzy as time goes on.

If anyone wants a pattern for this, I can write it out for you. The way I wrote the
pattern, you can use any weight yarn and you can put a border on the bottom if you
want.

Thanks! The KAL has been so much fun!"

If you've missed out on the fashion show post, please feel free to post what you've got! We'd all love to take a peek, I'm sure :)

Thanks to everyone for such fantastic participation...now it's time to deliberate on the winners...

finished bar the edging:)

I'm almost done with my Beltaine shawl, here are some pictures for you:) I am part way through the saw tooth edging and hope to finish this evening. Didn't want to not post progress though. Yarn is my most favourite in the world. Mountain colors mohair in Indian paintbrush. I've used 3 skeins total. I love the yarn its so soft, warm and glorious colours

Correction

Oops! I meant to say finished and unfinished project photos. We would all love to see what you've done, even if they're still WIP's.

Thanks!

Photos please, my dears!

Hello! If you haven't had a chance to send me your photos of your finished project, please do so by noon tomorrow so I can put together the "fashion show" post and we can decide upon a winner.
brooke_stewart@comcast.net

Thanks bunches!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

I decided on a Beltaine shawl:)

I'm half way through a Beltaine shawl in mountain colours mohair firey reds of course:) I decided that this festival of the year was an ideal time to make Morgaine a shawl. Fire for energy, passion and emotions and of course for all the blood of this book. A festival of the old times that were fading away into little pockets of remembrance apart from pagans. Beltaine has always been one of my favourite times on the wheel of they ear. We got handfasted at a sacred spot in cumbria a few years ago at this time. And if I were to put the book at one particular spot on the wheel of the year then for me it has always been a beltaine book:)
Photos this week soon as Mr Mog finds the camera, it is buried under a large pile of destash stuff. We are moving back to England in a few weeks due to health stuff of mine so I'm trying to destash a 3 bedroom, 3 living room house down to a 2 bedroom 1 living room bungalow. Not easy hence the yarn and book destash. I finalyl admitted to myself I'd never knit socks in the foreseeable future so why have sock yarns and as for lace yarn, I can only use it mixed with other yarns. Sadly my hands don't feel fine yarn properly.
amber in a very wet Scotland