Not So Fancy Nancy

I love my shawl

Wore my Flower Basket shawl to a dinner party last night and I loved it. This was the blouse I wore, but rather than the brown pants I have on today, I wore a paisley skirt in pink and cranberry tones that coordinated with the shawl and blouse. And I wore lipstick (wild woman eh?). I'm glad I blocked it wider than the pattern because it's just wide enough to tie. Tried to get a photo last night but it didn't turn out. The babysitter had just arrived and I was late for picking Brian up at work, so we rushed it. My daughter pointed the camera up at me in my high-heeled boots (whoa, heals and lipstick - definitely a party), creating the redwood tree photo effect of huge bottom receding to a teeny tiny top. Not pretty.

Blocking Flower Basket

Or, the Good, Bad & Ugly

The good:  Finished last night after midnight. Actually developed an eye twitch (thought that was only a figure of speech), but I pushed on like the dedicated knitter (i.e., nutcase) that I am. Didn't get a pre-block photo - did my exercises instead, which was a better use of my time. I was a bit concerned because it was so tiny! I decided to wait until morning to worry more about it - the ol light of day test.

Yep, it was still tiny in the AM. Soaked it for the recommended 20+ minutes, which did relax the fibers, but I still couldn't see how it was going to work. So I decided to just try. I've not blocked much, and certainly nothing that needed to be really strong-armed like this. Finally decided on pinning it to the rug in the living room. The warmest non-humid room in the house with a pinable floor.

The bad:  Started with my quilting flower-head pins. The flower heads helped keep it from popping off, but they just weren't up to the task. I discovered this when a head broke off while I was jamming the pin through the rug, thus jamming the bare pin under my finger nail. Ouch. Of course it was the pointer finger on my dominate (left) hand. You're never using one of the more disposable fingers when you do something like that are you? OK, none of my fingers are actually disposable, but if I had to dispose of one of them, that finger would be last in line. As the day progresses it's throbbing less though, so it's a small price to pay for a well-blocked shawl.

After that, I dug around and found safety pins, which stood up under the pressure. Took a couple of times, but I got there. Blocked a little longer/shorter than the pattern for more tie ends. I'm short, so that dimension giving is OK. Used metal BBQ skewers to shore up the middle.

The (almost very) ugly:  So, imagine ...  I've come home from exercise therapy and made myself leafy salad with roast beef and pickled onions (Brian makes them - they're yummy). I'm feeling righteous and good. Until I hear the distinctive sound of a cat vomiting. From the living room. Oh please ... NO! I run screaming into the room to find him crouching next to my shawl. Luckily he missed by a mere inch. No, he didn't eat a pin or anything, looked more like wrapping paper. The cats are having a field day with the tree and presents.

Here it is as I type this, clean and pinned. Will leave it until the kids get home.

Starting the Edge Chart for Flower Basket

In a marathon session this morning I finished repeat 6 and all of repeat 7. Now for the 10 row edge chart and bind off pattern. This photo is with the 1st half of the 1st row of the edge chart done. It doesn't photograph as well draped over the vase now that it's big.

Still made small mistakes every couple of pattern rows - my most common seems to be forgetting a yarn over. I'm happy though that I see the problem when I get to it and am able to reach down and fix it - did no more ripping than picking back on the current row on this entire shawl. This is a big step in competence for me. I like this pattern - it's easy to see what you should be doing.

I'm going to finish today, no matter how late. I have obligations all day tomorrow and want to wear it tomorrow night. May not be blocked, but it WILL be done. So, photos of the finished work tomorrow...

Flower Basket - almost to repeat 7 (yeah)

I now must finish Flower Basket. We're actually going to an adult (non-holiday) dinner party next week and I will be able to wear this, but only if it's done (the needles would take away from the look). We don't go out often, and for dressy events even less often (would only need one hand to count each year). It would be very sad not to have this ready.

Ems was being a very good helper. We love poinsettias around here. We live a stones throw from the Ecke Flower Ranch (original growers of poinsettias) and this plant is the symbol of our town.

Haven't had much knitting time until this morning. Finished the first ball and am on row 9/10 of the sixth repeat. One pattern repeat to go, then on to the final chart. It's a pleasure to knit (except when I figure out that I missed a YO in the previous pattern row), but I have to be sitting for a while to concentrate, and that hasn't happened over the last two weeks until today. Still love this Collage yarn - and it's really gone far for this pattern. Since it will only use two balls it's actually a bargain at $23.00 total.

Why no knit time?  Well, Christmas shopping is done! We're off to get a tree tomorrow AM and I'll be wrapping presents. This is a huge improvement over last year when I was shopping at 5:45 PM on Christmas Eve.  I had excuses (going to Russia and a nerve root block), but it took a lot of the fun and all of the relaxation out of it. I want two weeks to sit back and enjoy this time with my family. So, today, I exchange the spirit of shopping for the spirit of the season.

Flower Basket update

This will be my last entry until December 1st. Lots of family activities planned, so I'm going off-line until after the holiday weekend. I'll blog and answer email next Wednesday. Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

Here's Flower Basket half way through row 8/10 with two pattern repeats to go. It's even prettier in person - the mohair kind of fuzzes out in the photos. I'm thrilled with this:

Spent some time  with the sweater shaver today. I washed my Noro Silk Garden Debbie Bliss sweater (this is my sweater on the Knitting Garden site - I was one proud mama when I finished it). Pleased to report it handled the washer very well (wipe brow in relief). No loss of color or shape. De-fuzzed it and sewed up a side seam where the silk had broken. I love wearing this sweater on sunny days because the silk catches light so beautifully. I just sit in traffic and groove on the yarn. Yes, I'm easily amused.

Got industrious and defuzzed a few other sweaters. Feeling like an entry on one of those calendars from Martha Stewart's Living (don't know if the re-vamped version does them) - "Thursday:  wash and re-glaze the flower pots". Yeah, more like, Thursday:  have minion wash and re-glaze the flower pots, then have my photo taken with the brush in hand. Not too worried about her in jail - she's a tough cookie and she'll make a silk purse out of this mishap (with instructions). Not being too catty, I've always admired her drive & style, though I wouldn't want to work for her.

I want to finish the following over the holiday:

Flower Basket Shawl
Cozy
Pipsqueaks Sweater
La Boheme Scarf
Weekend Knitting Fingerless Gloves (not started yet, but ya gotta have dreams)
Birch (want to work on it, but don't expect to finish)

And yes, I plan to take a break to eat pie. Next Weds should be a big show-n-tell. Take care everyone -- Nancy

Flower Basket is flying along

Will post updated photo of my shawl tomorrow. It flies off the needles - I'm half way through the 5th pattern repeat of 7. Hope to finish this weekend so I can wear it next week.

Of course, it would go much faster if I stopped screwing up. Getting frighteningly good at dipping down to the previous pattern row and correcting stitches - usually a pass-over that didn't (and subsequently got purled) or a missing YO. Nice that lace is so forgiving. This is a good talent for me to have - I haven't had to rip back past the current row and I've corrected something in about every other pattern row. No, I'm not usually this bad, but it was a bit noisy and chaotic around here today and my rhythm kept getting knocked about. Trying to teach myself to really see the knitting so that when I start to throw a particular stitch I know it's correct in relation to the stitches in the previous rows. Have found that depending just on counting is not enough for me (obviously). By the end of this afternoon I was able to catch a mistake as soon as I got to it, rather than at the end of the row when my count came up wrong. Now, guess it's time to stop making the mistakes in the first place, hey?

Just starting to see how one could get fast and relaxed with lace. Good thing since I like it.

Flower Basket Shawl

Now for something completely different...

I saw this and flipped right by when this issue came out. The Knit-Along has come and gone. Didn't think twice about it.

But then, Filatura Di Crosa's Collage spoke to me at my LYS. It jumped into my bag without a pattern and I liked it too much to protest. It's 35% soft, fine wool, 25% kid mohair and 40% polyamid. The strands are lightly twisted together, but I've not had any problems with splitting. The colors are very subtly variegated - no pooling or striping, just slight variations of tone. I really like the strand of black and white (with tiny slubs) in this pink/orange colorway - it keeps it from being too sweet. I've got a J Jill outfit on order this will complement beautifully (I think, fingers crossed).

Saw a finished Flower Basket while blogrolling and gave it a try - got perfect gauge as a single strand (the pattern doubles the called for yarn) - yippee. This is how far I got yesterday with not too much knitting time and some slow moments (and one or two rip-backs) while establishing the pattern. I'm still pretty new to lace, so I have to think about how to work the repeats. Now it should be smooth knitting.