Where was I?
Thanks for all your very kind comments about the Leaf Lace Shawl. Gotta say, I am embarrassed at how completely craptacular my photos of the shawl are. But it was sort of dark and rainy yesterday, so I couldn’t get a good natural light photo. Flash photos did not work out at all. I’ll try to get some better shots. But not today. After being nice and sunny most of the day, it clouded up and the sky got dark and ominous before I got home. so no good natural light photos today.
In the interests of full disclosure, I did not take the time to block this by wetting it and pinning it out — I simply went over it with a steam iron. That worked very well. Because of the high silk content, I didn’t want to attempt to stretch it. Also, because it’s a heavier yarn, I didn’t think I needed a full wet block — the weight of it keeps it stretched out to a certain extent. I think it turned out just fine as is.
So there you have it.
Why a Shawl?
There was a comment today asking what I do with my shawls.
I always keep a couple of shawls at the office — my office is underheated in the winter and over air-conditioned in the summer, but other parts of the office are far warmer. Shawls are great to throw over my shoulders when I’m at my desk. When I get up to go to a warmer part of the office, I can easily toss said shawl over the back of my chair.
I sometimes use a shawl as a big scarf over my winter coat. And some of my shawls are given as gifts to other people.
And some of them are process knitting — I knit them for the pleasure of knitting lace with nary a thought as to their final disposition.
Sock In Progress!
I have resumed commuter knitting on the sock I started last week. Here it is, in all its sockie splendour:
Look! A lace pattern that is NOT feather and fan around the leg. Alert the media!
This is a simple lace rib, done over multiples of 6 stitches thusly:
Row 1: (k2, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k1) around.
Rows 2 – 4: knit
Easy as pie. And far more entertaining than plain stockinette.
Sweater in Progress!
I also resumed knitting on Deirdre and am at the point where I can start the armhole decreases on the front.
It’s funny — last week I got so sick of knitting this I could barely stand it. This week I happily picked it up and have been thoroughly entertained. Clearly, I am odd.
I guess a little cheating on the work-in-progress spices things up.
Be forewarned . . . there is more cheating-on-works-in-progress planned in the near future.
Lucy is appalled.