Finally, Something Accomplished!

 

This is my Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl from Martha Waterman's book.  It's not difficult, but I had to add an extra increase section to make it as long as I wanted. That meant that the 4-row edging took absolutely for-stinkin'-ever!!

But, today I finished the edging. I could weep with joy. So all that remains is crocheting across the top edge to stabilize it, and then I have to block it. I must say that I'm not looking forward to blocking this, and I'm really not sure quite how I'm going to do it. I would have to buy a boatload of T-pins to be able to pin out each little point on the edging, so I suspect it will have to be done in sections. I'll play my Scarlett O'Hara card here: I'll think about it tomorrow.

Because of the s-l-o-w progress on the shawl, I'm way behind on my 52 in 52 plan. I did cast on a new pair of pretty socks, so maybe I can get those done fairly quickly and try to make up for lost time. I'm running into a little issue here though. I really need to make a couple of little girl items that are in the queue. If I don't get started soon, the Rugrat will be too big for what I'm planning to make her.

And that reminds me of a tidbit that I don't believe I've shared yet. We expect a grandson in January. How cool is that?? One of each. I couldn't be happier! Let's hope for a safe and easy arrival (and my son is hoping for a late December arrival. Tax break, you know.)

I'm still adjusting to being more-or-less unemployed. I say more-or-less because dyeing for the Etsy shop is going strong. I had to postpone the opening date from September 1st to the 8th because I simply couldn't get all the little details nailed down in time. Little details like PHOTOGRAPHS. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that the photos are what drag me down. I hate to blog without any photos at all, and obviously the Etsy thing won't happen without pictures. So I either have to nag the husband to get them done soon or I'll have to tackle it myself. I probably had better learn sometime.

Off to crochet and plan the blocking strategy!

Blech, Blah, Ick

Still sick. I had to take off work yesterday, which I hate to do right now, because it's the end of the year for one of our clients' accounting departments. I feel like I've let them down because I couldn't get their invoices processed and out to them in time. They were nice enough about it when I called, but it's my own guilt hang-up that's making me feel bad.

But, then again, I was too sick to even knit yesterday. That means I'm really sick. Oh wait--I did cast on Rugrat's second mitten, but casting on and knitting just a few rounds of K2P2 ribbing was all I could handle. I spent most of the day huddled on the sofa watching TV, alternating among "Clean Sweep", "What Not to Wear", and DVR'd "Law & Order: SVU". Do you think the people on "Clean Sweep" REALLY live like that all the time, or do they mess it up worse before the TV crew gets there? And I have a morbid fascination with "WNTW" because I just know that my family is trying to get me on that show. They don't like my flannel-wearing propensities. I know my wardrobe could stand to be punched up a bit, but considering that Clinton was wearing a pair of plaid pants in one of the shows yesterday, I'm not sure how much I'd trust some of their fashion advice. And why do they insist on dressing overweight women in sleeveless clothes? Even I know that's a no-no, even if I do wear men's flannel shirts (but only in my own house. Most of the time.)

So now I feel guilty for having spent a whole day not knitting The Dress. The last time I worked on it, I timed each round. It takes me an hour and a half to knit a round, and there are about 4 or 5 rows to the inch. I have to knit 12 inches of this 2400-stitch row, then double them to 4800 stitches. I refuse to do the math on how many hours this will take. I'm just glad that I have a few audiobooks on the iPod to listen to while I knit, and that this is straight knitting--no fancy increase/decrease stuff.

I'm not sure how long I'll have to knit the 4800-stitch rows. I figure the best thing to do is measure the length of the crinoline. When I start getting close to that measurement, I'll have to put the stitches (oh. my. gosh.) on a string to hold them, let it hang for a day or two, then have Missy try it on over the crinoline to see how much the skirt has stretched. We've talked about doing a ruffle or some such nonsense at the bottom, but I don't think that's going to be possible. By the time I get 4800 stitches on this circular needle, it's going to be packed solid, and there's no way I can do another increase for a ruffle. The only way is to knit a separate strip and attach it. I'll think about that when I get there.

Notice that I haven't even mentioned the bodice for this dress. I'm refusing to think about it at this point.

I had also planned to knit a lace shawl for her to wear over the dress if she wanted to, but I don't think that's going to happen (that was Secret Project #2.) I had started it with some fine ice-blue silk, but now she's not sure that blue will be the theme color. It depends on when the wedding is. So the shawl is definitely on the back-burner, though I think it would be lovely to have made that too. The 4800-stitch skirt looms waaaaay too large though.

I really must go back to work tomorrow, so I think I'd better get settled in with The Dress. The set of replacement tips I called for the first time my needles fell apart has arrived, so I'm good for needles at the moment (though I'll feel a lot more confident using the nickel-plated set when I get it.) I'm feeling a little better today, so I need to use every moment I can. Though I'm thinking a shower is probably in order. And I hope I have a clean flannel shirt in the closet.

WIPs and a Giveaway!

Even though I haven't made a new Project List, and I'm kind of on hold because of the new Secret Project(s), here's a look at what I've been working on.

The Swallowtail Shawl cast-on was my response to months of sock knitting for SOS08. I think I cast on around the first of September, and this is how far I got before relegating it to the bottom of the pile. It's not hard, and it's a wonderful yarn (Suprima by Fila de Crostura)  (Superior by Filatura Di Crosa) but I got distracted. Surprise, surprise.

This next shawl jumped on the needles because Missy bought some laceweight yarn at Woolgathering in September, and we started a KAL on Ravelry so she could learn to knit lace. The plan was for us to work on it together, row by row, but that hasn't worked out so well. She's still learning to "read" her knitting, so when something goes wrong (and you know that with lace it always does) she doesn't understand what happened so she can fix it. She's gotten discouraged and hasn't picked it up in a while, so mine has been languishing as well. But I have been able to help her fix some things when they go awry, so all is not lost. And part of the reason she hasn't been working on the shawl is because she's been making a shrug and can't stand to have more than one project going at once. If I hadn't endured 40 weeks of pregnancy (with the requisite 3 months of morning sickness) and 16 hours of labor to bring her into this world, I would swear she can't be my kid.

This shawl is a bit bigger than the picture shows, because I've had to sneak it out on occasion and do a couple of rows just for the fun of it. Don't tell Missy.

The gray sweater/coat below is a Jo Sharp pattern, and it's being made with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. The pattern calls for a tweed yarn, but I don't care for the tweedy flecks with all the cabling this sweater has. The Lamb's Pride is perfect--smooth and glossy, and the cables pop out beautifully. I'll have to make something else from it when I get done with this (stop snickering) because the stockinette on the wrong side is even more beautiful than the cabled side.

This just shows a little of the progress on this particular project. I do have the first sleeve done and the ribbing and a couple inches of the pattern done on the second sleeve. But again, it's languishing because of the SP(s). It's kind of hard to work on for a long stretch anyway, because I have to concentrate and follow the pattern carefully so I don't have drunken cables wandering every which way. An hour of working on this and I'm begging for the mindlessness of a fun fur scarf.


The color in the above picture is true--a lovely silvery gray. I don't know what happened to the second picture. I'm not much of a photographer.

Speaking of scarves, I'm ripping off  stealing  borrowing an idea from Wendy of WendyKnits and giving away a book I no longer need. It's Vogue's "Knitting on the Go: Scarves" in new condition. This is what it looks like:


So leave a comment, and I'll choose a winner at random and send this to you. It's really a nice little book, but I don't need it and I'm trying to downsize a bit. I'd rather have a reader get it than dump it off at Goodwill, and our local libraries are not accepting donations right now. Since I rarely have more than two commments on any post, your chances of winning are fantastic!  (Thanks for the idea, Wendy!!)

I'm off to have another little glass of chilled wine after my hectic day spent searching for the perfect Baby Doll for Rugrat. I've decided that there really is a seventh circle of Hell, and it is called "Toys R Us."