Yummmy Silk!!!!

I'm knitting the Children of Lir stole for The Daughter's friend. The Children of Lir is the Irish tale of some children who have been transformed into swans by their evil and jealous foster mother. Eventually they hear bells and are transformed back to human form, possibly by St. Patrick. The Daughter's Friend and The Intended are afficianados of all things Celtic, so this seemed appropriate. The pattern in the stole is intended to suggest the swans' wings.

I had some Jaeger Pure Silk DK in the wonderful Celadon color that I got on sale at Mosaic awhile back. I've been wanting to do something special with it, and this fits the bill. The Friend is being married in May, and I know she likes this color, because it's the color of the bridesmaids' dresses. I figure she might find a use for it later in her life.

It's a nice knit, and I love working with the silk. I'm using Denise size 11's. It sounds huge, but doing lace with DK requires some big honkin' needles. The needles are nice and pointy for doing lace. The only problem is that the cable is thick and draggy. Ordinarily I like Denises-- and the tips are working out great, but I'm spoiled by being able to knit a bit faster without pushing my work up all the time.

I looked at Addi's and a couple of other metal circs with thinner cables, but the tips of the needles are too blunt for k2togs and ddecs. I've ordered KnitPicks acrylic and nickel interchangeable tips (I have several of their cables) since they are relatively affordable and the tips look really pointy. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll deal with my draggy Denises.

Meanwhile, more sadness as one of my co-workers is in her final transition. Please say prayers for her and her family.