I managed to finish my Back to the Fuchsia shawl on the last day of June, a lovely bit of symmetry since I started it on the first day. I’m actually surprised I finished it that quickly, since there were a few times that the houndstooth pattern felt like it would take forever. But this was my main project for the month so I didn’t really work on much else. And I’m so glad I made it – it’s such a fun shawl!
The cream and black were both leftover partial skeins from stash so I’m thrilled to use them up. The black (actually charcoal) is a merino/silk blend from Julie Spins and the cream is Malabrigo Sock. The pink I bought for this project and it’s Baah Yarn La Jolla in Pink Tourmaline. I’ve got about 57 grams left of the pink so it might work well paired with a multi-colored yarn in a bigger shawl. I loved working with it – it’s so nice and crisp.
Blocking was a bit of a challenge. The designer recommended pinning first and then spray blocking, rather than soaking and then pinning. I don’t really know why but figured I’d better go with it. Because the lace sections had more stretch than the houndstooth, I had to fuss with it a lot to get it pinned out evenly and in the right shape. Got there in the end!
With that done, yesterday I had a bit of knitting time and had an initial thought of, “Wait – what am I supposed to work on now?” before remembering that yes, I do actually have several other WIPs that could use my attention now.
I also finished Friday Night Lights yesterday (alas) so I’m pondering my next binge. Thinking about The Bear. Anyone else seen it?
Happy Sunday, friends.
After finishing the dining room yesterday morning, I really thought I was done painting for a while. It’s been hard on my back, elbows, wrists, hands — everything, really. But the work and the final products are really good for my mind, so by last night I was pulling pictures off the walls in the living room and starting to dust and spackle. I’m going to take it slow, though. I’ll do bursts of prep in between spurts of knitting today, and take my time. The boy asked me last night what I was going to do when I ran out of rooms to paint, and I had no answer. After the living room, I have a stairwell to paint, and that’s it for painting. I could be done by the end of the week. Then what?
I had to frog 30 rows of lace on Saturday. 327 stitches per row. That’s over 9800 stitches, and it was only 15 rows from the end of the shawl. But I’d dropped a stitch a few rows back, thought I’d fixed it, then I dropped another stitch, thought I’d fixed it, my stitch count was off by one so I adjusted, and then the next row my stitch count was off by three. Upon further investigation, the diamond lace pattern was hecked up, to put it in technical terms. I hated to do it but I want this to be a good shawl, thus, the frogging. I got all my stitches back on the needle safely and have done three rows correctly. Now I’m just trying to decide how often to move my lifeline now!
I hate this color so much. In person, it’s a touch more yellow. It’s like a pale pea green. It’s hideous. All the many cracks have been patched (hooray for old houses with plaster walls, right?) and today I’ll sand them down and start prepping furniture to be moved out of the room. And then it will be painted the palest gray and the girl said she’ll repaint the glossy white trim, and then! Don’t tell the husband, but then I’m going to order new bedding and it’s going to be PURPLE and I will love my bedroom.
Now I’ve got a case of finish-itis — I’m ready to pull out another shawl WIP before I cast on something new!
I cast on two days ago and I’m ready to start section four of six. Of course, the last three sections are quite a bit bigger than the first three, but still, it’s going quickly. And darned if I’m not starting to like short rows! They’re not as fiddly as they used to be, and the wedges they can create are super fun.
It’s going smoothly and quickly and I think blocking is going to make a huge difference, opening up the mesh triangles a lot. You need around 400 yards of fingering weight, and the pattern is free through August, so check it out if you want to play along!
It’s also super hard to photograph, since it’s so huge! But I got the nice triangular shape I was wanting, and a lovely drape, and now I’m just crossing my fingers that she likes it and that it will keep her warm in her cold office.
Next I want to cast on a short-sleeved sweater, and a shawl KAL, and maybe another sock. Time to cast on ALL THE THINGS!!
bonnyknits 