Lace Shawl Finished! except for blocking…

The 2009 Goddess Anniversary Shawl

This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten on a lace shawl. Everyone says that it will look totally different after blocking. I think I’m also going to add a little crocheted edging at the neckline as it looks a bit fragile. But, all in all, I am really pleased with this shawl. Even before blocking it’s large enough for me.

This is the 2008 Ravelry Block of the Month CAL afghan. I wanted it a little bigger so I crocheted three extra blocks to make it 5x3. I am currently working on a six-row border to finish it off. I was hoping to be able to just use stash yarn but I’ve already had to buy another skein of lavender and just may have to buy one more.

I’ve started a pair of socks for The Husband and am also working on charity hats. I plan to pull out one of the hibernating lace shawls, probably the 2008 Goddess Anniversary Shawl. I am on the final clue but have quite a lot of 500+ stitch rows to do. This is a circular shawl and has a border all around. I haven’t done a border yet but I think I can do it.

I’m also thinking about starting the Half-Square in Trinity Stitch shawl from Victorian Lace Today if I can figure out the directions. Just looking at it, the numbers don’t add up; but there is no errata for this pattern, so I’m probably wrong. I’m going to do a swatch using Paton’s Grace so that I don’t mess up the silk yarn that I really want to use. More about this later.

The yarn I would like to use is the one on the bottom. It is 100% silk and was bought in Arkansas last summer while we were on vacation. It should give this shawl a nice drape. Of course, I will do a swatch before casting on.

Catching Up, Part 2

KNITTING

Despite having three unfinished lace shawls, I have started another one, the 2009 Goddess Anniversary Shawl. I had hoped to finish the 2008 shawl before starting this one but I broke a needle and had to wait for the replacement.

This pattern is different from other styles I have attempted. There are six triangular sections with a straight center section. The first clue was uploaded last Saturday morning and I started that evening. There are only 33 stitches to start with but you increase 12 stitches every four rows, so the piece gets bigger pretty fast. I finished Row 64 last night, just in time for Clue 2 which was released this morning. This one only has 40 rows, but again, the increases will add a total of 120 stitches by the time the clue is finished.

End of Clue 1 on 2009 shawl. The circular needle isn't long enough to stretch the entire piece out.

This is a pair of socks I made using Cat Bordhi’s Simple Sock pattern from “Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.” I can’t remember what the yarn was and it’s not in my Ravelry stash and I can’t find the remaining yarn, so that will have to be a mystery for a while. I mostly knit toe-up patterns and this one is a top down, but it fits pretty well so I am using it for the Jojoland Melody that I bought at KnitWicks in Rogers, Arkansas when we were on vacation last year.

It is really soft and such a gorgeous teal color. I’m about 3/4 finished with the second sock; may be able to complete it later this week if I finish Clue 2 of the shawl quickly.

This photo shows both colors of the Melody, although the pink one is really more of a dark peach.

The 2008 CAL afghan blocks are ready to be sewn together. To make the job easier, I crocheted the same two-row edging around each of the 15 blocks. This was supposed to be a stash project but I ran out of the lavender I was using for the edging with about 5 blocks to go and had to buy another skein. It’s labeled as no dye lot but it does not match exactly. Once they are sewn together, I will start edging the entire piece. Not sure yet what pattern I will use but I will definitely use only stash. If I run out before a row is completed, I’ll switch to another color. I did the squares in a variegated, so I have a lot of leeway. I’m using pure acrylic for this one. Nobody can call me a yarn snob.

I have only done one 2009 CAL afghan block so far. Actually two – a 12” and a 6”. So that means I’m four months behind, soon to be five. However, these blocks can usually be crocheted in about two hours, so I’m not worried.

Coming Soon: Quilting and Sewing

January Resolution

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions because experience has taught me that I can't keep them for more than a day or two. But today I sort of had a personal "intervention" about my habit of printing out recipes and patterns that I find online.

I used to be careful with my paper and ink; unless I needed the recipe/pattern right away, I would usually just bookmark the site. At one point I maxed out Yahoo's bookmark limit of 999 and had to go in and delete some so that I could add more!

But for quite some time now I've been making the decision to print much more frequently. The breaking point happened when I wanted to prepare some shrimp that SaveMart had on special. I looked at my seafood recipes and found one for Greek Style Shrimp which sounded good (and I had the feta cheese on hand); then I found two more with the same name. Each was slightly different but basically the same. That's when I decided that maybe I had better cut back on my accumulating.

So for the rest of this month I am not going to print any recipes or knitting/crochet/quilt patterns. I already have more than I could ever use, so it's time for a moratorium. I am making an exception for projects already committed to: Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight quilt, which is her New Year's Eve mystery quilt with clues being released for the next several days, and the Ravelry 2009 12" CAL.

We'll see how this goes...

SPIDERMAN LAPGHAN COMPLETED

I started the Spiderman Lapghan in March and finally finished it this afternoon. The first couple of months were pretty tough – I was having a lot of hand pain and crocheting was more painful than knitting, but at that point I still hoped to have it finished by my grandson's birthday in late April. Once I realized that each round was getting bigger (and taking longer) I slowed down because there was no chance of finishing it that quickly. Since then, I only picked it up occasionally, mostly when I needed something mindless. The final step was to reverse single crochet around the outer edge. I really worked at it but could not get it right. So I finally settled for a slip stitch all around and I think it looks pretty good. I'm not entirely happy with the way the webs look but they'll do. I may enter it in the County Fair this fall and give it to DGS after that.

While it was in progress, I usually kept the afghan in a bag next to my chair. But one night I wanted to see how it looked spread out, so I put it on the bed in my sewing room. The next morning I found Leo curled up on it. That gave me the idea of making a small version for him using the leftover yarn. That solves the problem of royal blue and red acrylic yarn added to my stash.