Whew. That was a lot of pinning. A lot. It’s probably already dry — I had to keep spraying it just to be able to finish blocking. But I am leaving it pinned for a few more hours lest I suffer the nightmare of “springing back.” Here are some photos of it being blocked.
I stood on a chair to try to get a better shot, but I couldn’t get the entire shawl in the photograph.
Here is a close up.
In answer to Susan’s question: it’s about 63 inches in diameter.
The crocheted edge is finished and the shawl is happily soaking in a tub of lavender-scented Eucalan — just waiting to be blocked. Here are a few photos of the almost finished shawl.
This one was taken when I had cast off somewhere between a third and half of the stitches:
Here it is in all of its pre-blocking glory:
And here are two skeins of a beautiful hand-dyed 100% silk laceweight yarn from Sundara — my next shawl. The color is a bit darker and deeper than it looks here and because it’s silk there is more sheen as well. It’s really what I call “Kate Spade” red. Click here to see the color a bit better.
Remember this from December 31, 2006?
Now it looks like this!
I LOVE IT!!! The snow is so deep that it’s over our dog’s back — she’s a large Yellow Lab. She “swims” through the yard to do her thing.
Debbie Downer (aka, my husband) went off to work, so we are alone to have the kind of fun described by the commenters of yesterday. I had already told my youngest that it would not be all fun and games if we had a Snow Day — that she would have to shovel out her room, etc. But it did bother me that John did not let them savor the moment, ever so briefly!
I am going to be knitting, eating, drinking copious amounts of coffee, talking to Surly on the phone, watching TV (either live, or movies) and doing some fun things with the girls. And I plan on running through the snowbanks like a young girl, flopping into the snow and getting thoroughly doused.Â
On the knitting front: I have been working on Oregon and will probably finish the second sleeve this weekend. I still cannot figure out how Marina finishes two sleeves in less than a week! I am at the point where I am doing my decreases every 3 rounds instead of every 5, so it is getting smaller much faster. Once you get to the Large Leaf Border, it seems to go faster, too, because it becomes more interesting — then there is the ribbing :(. And the front bands. And the neckband…..aaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!
Re: Eris — this is what I pick up when I need a break from Oregon. It has been progressing slowly and will speed up once Oregon is finis!!Â
I must knit! TTFN
PS — by 11 am youngest daughter had shoveled her room — now we need to do a mountain of laundry!!
When I was growing up in Minnesota, school officials had to build in at least 3 or 4 “Snow Days” into the school calendar every year, and they got used. My kids have had very few, if any (I tried to remember one, and nothing recent comes to mind). Snow days have become a thing of the past, like rotary phones! Until now – tomorrow is an official, bona fide, out-and-out, for real SNOW DAY!! I am as excited as my kids, because I told them at work today that if my school district called a Snow Day, I was staying home. Man oh man, I am happy!
My husband, the perennial killjoy, did not give the kids 2 minutes of joy before telling them they could clean the house tomorrow. Au contraire, Debbie Downer! Though a small cleaning effort may be foisted upon us out of necessity, we are going to enjoy our Snow Day — or what good is it?Â
My Knit Snow Day has officially begun ;)!!
I knit the last stitch of the Feather & Fan Shawl this morning. Thanks to all of you for your understanding of my need to knit those last four rows. Checking off the last row of the chart was very satisying.
Then I realized I could not find a crochet hook approaching the size I need for the crocheted cast off, despite the fact that it feels as if I buy a crochet hook every time I step into a yarn store.
My response was to go get a salt scrub and a massage (in part to alleviate the pain and tension in my shoulder from knitting the shawl in the first place). Feeling way too relaxed to drive legally, I nevertheless made my way to the closest local yarn store. They did not have a single crochet hook in stock. In any size. Say what? I did finally find the crochet hook of my dreams across town at their sister store. I am now starting the very slow — especially for me — process of casting off the grey behemoth. I am not a great crocheter; I find it clumsy, awkward, and tedious. If practice makes perfect, I’m bound to improve. (Get it? Bound to improve? ‘Cause I’m binding off. Yeah — I know it was lame.)
A No Knitting Post
A number of older “stars” are going to be on American Idol to be mentors and judges. Some have retooled their early hits to accommodate the aging baby boomers who make up their fan base:
   1. Herman’s Hermits — Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Walker
   2. The Bee Gees — How Can You Mend a Broken HipÂ
   3. Bobby Darin — Splish, Splash, I Was Havin’ a Flash
   4. Ringo Starr — I Get By With a Little Help From Depends
   5. Roberta Flack — The First Time Ever I Forgot Your FaceÂ
   6. Johnny Nash — I Can’t See Clearly Now
   7. Paul Simon — Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver
   8. The Commodores — Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom
   9. Marvin Gaye — Heard It Through the Grape Nuts
  10. Procol Harem — A Whiter Shade of Hair
  11. Leo Sayer — You Make Me Feel Like Napping
  12. The Temptations — Papa’s Got a Kidney Stone
  13. Tony Orlando — Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall
  14. Helen Reddy — I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore
  15. Leslie Gore — It’s My Procedure, and I’ll Cry If I Want To
  16. Willie Nelson — On the Commode Again!
I am such a sucker for bad puns!
Speaking of oldies, I had the craziest dream last night. Through a series of events I met my younger self. I said to the Young Me, “I’m you, from the future. This is what you’re going to look like!” The look of shock and disappointment was a bit off putting! I kept thinking, why don’t we have more in common? The Young Me was describing things in her life (which of course should have totally matched MY past) and none of it was correct. Even her “date” was no one I had gone out with before. Come to find out, the Young Me had overheard someone talking about a job opening at a different hospital at that time. Young Me went for the opportunity and got the job. It changed everything for her — her friends, where she lived, etc. I started kind of freaking out in the dream — not that one small decision could change everything (because I believe that is true — See Gwyneth Paltrow’s “Sliding Doors”), but why didn’t my present life match up? It was the coolest dream I’ve had in a long time and very cool that I remembered it in such detail when I woke up!!Â
Guilt will work just fine, thank you.
Late last night, I reached a psychological low point with my Feather & Fan Shawl. I had about six or seven rows left to knit when I got a delightful thought: why not just stop where I was? Instead of knitting the last four-row repeat, why not make the repeat I was just finishing be the last one? The number of stitches would be the same and it wouldn’t make all that much difference in the final size. I could be casting off — I could be finished. It was decided. That left me two rows to knit. I knit one of those two last night and woke up this morning with one to go.
I couldn’t do it. I changed my mind and I’m partway through the last and final repeat now.
Why couldn’t I do it? It’s not as if I don’t alter virtually every pattern I knit. I feel no compunction about doing that. I think, if I’m honest, it’s because I had dutifully been checking off each row on my chart and I just couldn’t leave those last few rows unchecked. It’s as simple as that.
I have four rows left to knit now. I think, in the long run, I’ll be happier.
I finished the collar and even remembered to take a slightly out-of-focus picture of it before picking up the stitches for the body. Please don’t judge the poor little collar too harshly — this is “raw” unblocked knitting.
The pin you see in the middle marks where my provisional cast on was. I think it will look better once it’s blocked and fussed with, but I don’t think the transition looks too bad. I know I will prefer how it looks half-a-stitch off than how it would look with a seam.
In an effort to catch up with my sister, I’ve done a fair amount of knitting today. I’ve picked up all of the stitches for the body and will finish the short row section tonight (before my obligatory row of the grey behemoth).
Â
From Susan: Should I get pissy that Surly’s looks better or just keep knitting away? I guess I’ll have to keep knitting, as it is the one thing that keeps me sane…
I am working diligently on my two projects. I take Eris with me so I can work on mindless stockinette — I have about four inches past the underarm. This is one of those projects that will be a bit of a crapshoot — it LOOKS like it will fit:
The beauty of top down knitting!
I have also been knitting on Oregon. I work on it at home and now have about 9″ done on the second sleeve — woo hoo!! I would post a picture of it, but an old one will do:
We’ll pretend! I’m not quite this far yet, but you get the idea ;) I actually am really enjoying the sleeve and I NEVER enjoy doing sleeves!!
I am (of course) daydreaming about the next BIG THING, which will be the Large Collar Bohus. That is what keeps me plugging — thinking about the NEXT one!
It’s so hard to take good photographs of knitted garments. Susan and I would each like to have a half-mannequin, so that we could get decent pictures. If we lived closer, we could invest in a really good one and share it. But we don’t, and I haven’t had the time to look around to see if I can find one. So, in order to show you photographs of the finished Berry Cluster Pullover, I tried:
1. Hanging it up. It looks okay, but not great.
2. Draping it over a chair. Just no.
3. I flirted, ever so briefly, with modeling it myself. It fits nicely, but I just wasn’t of a mood. So, I asked my twenty-year-old daughter if she would model it for me. She said yes, but I knew the fit would not be quite right. She’s very slender, and her shoulders aren’t as broad as mine. (I said shoulders. Shoulders, people.) It fits me better than it fits her, but I don’t have the cute stomach. So it’s a tradeoff. (And I should have had her change into a smoother under garment. See, we need a mannequin.)
Here is a detail of the hem so you can see the pearls.
In other knitting news, I did start Eris. I have half of the collar knitted. Like Susan, I started with a provisional cast on (the white row you see at the wide end) and my next step will be to pick up those stitches and start knitting in the opposite direction.
I’m knitting my Eris using Ultra Alpaca, which I described here (you’ll need to scroll down a little bit). I think this yarn will be perfect for this project and I am loving how it knits up. It looks rather sad here but I’ve stretched with my fingers and I know it will look much better once it’s been blocked.
Alison — I know you’re concerned about the lightness of the cash soft you’re using. I think you’ll be okay; I might worry a little whether that yarn will pill because it is so soft. That’s the one little concern I would have and some of that depends upon how hard you are on your sweaters.
As for the grey behemoth — my Feather & Fan shawl — I’m still plugging along. Twelve rows left. It will get finished soon.
PS — For Wendy O:
And from the book:
They say we’re getting a foot of snow today: ack!Â
PS (1 hour later) — it has started!
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