Putzing Along

As usual, I've neglected the blog. But that was partly because I was so busy finishing things! Yes! I finished three projects in one day--Saturday, August 1st. That got me on schedule with the "52 Project" goal, so I was quite happy about it. Here are the pics:

Yes, the Girasole is finished, and I absolutely love it. I used Wendy's blocking technique, which worked very well (the instructions are at the end of the post, after the picture of her kitty Lucy.) I think it would have come out slightly larger if I had done the whole pin-blocking thing, but since my back has been giving me fits the past couple of weeks, bending over a king-size bed and using a bazillionty pins for this was a no-go. Next time I'll put the ironing cover on my cutting table and iron it on that. I should be able to stretch it a bit more than I could on the regular ironing board.

If you look closely, you can see the change in color on the border, but Daniele was right. She commented on my last post that it probably wouldn't be noticeable, and it's not. I think that's mostly because the odd skein had to be joined right at the border, and the change of knitting direction and pattern helps hide the difference in shades. If I'd had to use it 50 rounds earlier, it would have been a problem. (BTW, Daniele was also right about my ill-fated attempt at a schedule. How'd you know, D??)

So the Girasole took three and a half skeins of Ranco Multy, at 376 yards per skein, therefore between 1300-1400 yards. If I did it again, I would use one size needle larger (I used a size 3/3.25mm on this one.) BUT. Though I love the shawl, I find round shawls a little awkward to wear. I don't see why it can't be made as a half-circle instead. Yeah, that means purling on the wrong side, but I can handle that. It also means that I have enough Ranco Multy in another colorway to make a half-circle (must...not...start...) BUT. I've made the Girasole, and would like to try something different but sort of the same. Enter Wendy again. She has just finished designing two cool round shawls (here and here), so one of those will be going on the list.

Next item:

This is the 2003 Collector's Heart from Heart in Hand (Celia Turner, designer.) It's another small cross-stitch destined for our bedroom wall.

And we have this:

It started out as this, from Zarzuela's Fibers:

I spun it into a fine singles, and I think it turned out really well. Now I need to figure out how many yards I have so I can decide what it will become. I'm anxious to see it knitted up. I hadn't done any spinning for a long time, and now I remember why I love it. I'm poking around in the fiber stash now, trying to decide what to spin next.

I can't tell you how good it feels to actually be finishing things. (Ok, technically the Tropical Fish yarn isn't finished until I knit it, but it's still progress!) I have to fight the urge to start new things--I think "startitis" will always be an issue with me--but seeing results makes me happy. It's especially true since the fibromyalgia has been flaring up the past couple of weeks, so my life feels very limited at times. I don't get out much unless it's to go to the post office for work, but I at least have something I can do that makes me feel useful. It's not brain surgery or the cure for cancer, but I make pretty stuff, and that has to be worth something, right?