The Bigger on the inside shawlette has been blocked.

As I mentioned last week, I have new Block n Roll mats. I purchased two of them, because the dimensions of the mat are 38 by 50 inches, and most shawls that I knit are wider than 50 inches. I used both today.

The mats are easy to store because they neatly roll up and have attached ties that secure them. Then you can stand them in a corner somewhere. The blocking surface is marked off in a handy grid and is heat and water resistant so you can use the mat to wet block and steam block.

I didn’t use blocking wires, just carefully pinned the shawl in place

Guest Kitties!

Yesterday we went to a family barbecue at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. They have two adorable kitties. Meet Perry:

Meet Della:

Perry!

Della!

Wendy & Lucy

This weeks’ installment:

Lucy Sez

“It’s okay that Momma played with other kitties because they are family.”

I’ve not yet blocked my shawl. Rather, I have been thinking of excuses for not doing so.

It’s been one of those weeks — too many non-knitting-related things to deal with when I get home from work in the afternoon, so no time for blocking. so I think the blocking will have to wait until the weekend.

So meanwhile, I have started something new.

I am using “Traveller,” a yarn from Cephalopod Yarns. Cephalopod Yarns began as part of The Sanguine Gryphon. When The Sanguine Gryphon closed its doors last year, Cephalopod Yarns came into being.

I’m using the “House of Strangers” colorway.

Traveller is a DK-weight superwash merino wool, with 280 yards per 4-ounce skein.

I’m knitting this:

Yes, it is yet another sideways thing. 🙂

Oh, I just thought of another good excuse why I can’t block my shawl. Lucy is in my lap.

Must not disturb the Little Princess!

I finished knitting my Bigger on the inside shawlette last night.

When I got home from work, I had this much of the edging done — about half of it.

I finished the edging and decided I’d try to try to complete the bind off before going to bed. I did actually complete it while sitting up in bed, watching tv. Here’s what that looked like:

As you can see, Lucy was on the job.

Here is a quick photo of the unblocked shawl I took with my phone this morning:

As you can see, this piece will very much benefit from blocking. I’ll see if I can get that done tomorrow night. In a happy coincidence, the Block and Roll blocking mats I ordered from Patternworks arrived yesterday, so I’ll give those a whirl. And I’ve got new blocking wires from Inspinknity so I’m looking forward to trying those out.

I weighted the shawl upon completion and found that it weighed 156 grams. Interesting, because on the Ravelry pattern page for the design it says that the original weighed 127 grams. That was knit in a different yarn, but still, that’s a big difference. I knit mine exactly according to the pattern and did the bottom edge for exactly 2″ so I’m not sure why mine weighs so much more. I did some quick calculations and estimate that my shawlette took approximately 560 yards.

Lookie Here!

I got my yarn for my Campy Loopy Project I:

This is Three Irish Girls Glenhaven Cashmerino Worsted in the Niall colorway. Isn’t it nice? I’m going to make Stephen West’s Gyllis. I’ll be starting that on May 27.

I need a project to tide me over until May 27. I’ve got some samples that I’m knitting for my classes for SSK, so I’ll be working on those. I’ll likely finish before May 27, so will need something else to keep me busy until the official start of Camp Loopy. I do have some ideas.

Wendy & Lucy Cartoon

Thanks for your nice comments about my silly little cartoon. It was a spur of the moment thing, drawn on the back of an index card with a ballpoint pen. (I took a photo of it to post because I couldn’t get the scanner on my inkjet printer to work.) I think I’ll post a new cartoon each Sunday . . . until I run out of ideas.

Lucy sez:

“If I ignore it, will it go away?”

I did finally finish the Time Vortex Lace section of my Bigger on the inside shawl, and on Friday night I picked up the 311 stitches required along the bottom curved edge to work the TARDIS section.

I looked at the project notes for this design on Ravelry, and found that another knitter described picking up the stitches by dividing the edge into 8 equal sections, and then picking up 38, 39, 39, 39, 1 stitch in the middle, 39, 39, 39, 38. This seemed as good a plan as any, so while half watching Ghostbusters II on television Friday night, that’s how I picked up my stitches.

Here’s the current state of the shawl after a Saturday’s-worth of knitting:

I have completed Row 28 of the TARDIS chart and this is how much yarn I have left of my first skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock:

That looks like it’ll last for one more row. So I’ll definitely make a big dent in a second skein.

Wendy & Lucy

Just for fun, I’ve started a cartoon series called “Wendy & Lucy.”

No, I have no plans to quit my day job. 😉

Lucy sez:

“That doesn’t look anything like me. But it looks just like you, Momma!”

The Time Vortex Lace section of my Bigger on the inside shawl is slightly bigger. I was hoping to be at the picking up of stitches stage by now, but Real Life intervened and I am not there yet. But I should finish this lace section tonight, and I will be ready to pick up my stitches tomorrow evening.

A couple of you pointed out in the comments that Time Vortex Lace decrease chart that was missing a stitch has now been updated. If you downloaded your pattern before yesterday, you need to go back (the link is in the first paragraph of this entry) and re-print the Time Vortex Lace Charts. The new chart is marked “updated May 9/12” so you’ll know that you are getting the latest and greatest.

Camp Loopy

It is officially almost summer. How do I know? Because Sheri announced Camp Loopy 2012 in her blog post of May 9. Hop on over to her blog for all the details. I’ve picked out a pattern for my first project and have ordered the yarn from The Loopy Ewe, so I’ll be all ready to get started on May 27. I picked a project that a friend will be knitting (hi, Sharon!), Gyllis, by Stephen West, so we’ll have a mini-knit-along.

Lucy is busy primping for the weekend!