Progress

I finished Jill's Branching Out tonight. Yay! It's such a fast and easy lace pattern, good for a present. Hope she likes it! I'm going to block it out when I get up tomorrow.

Also, satchel is all done. (Here with Pippin, the family corgi)

But I think I'm giving up on MancalaMia...I'll finish it after Christmas for Lori's birthday in January. It's just too much, I need time to work on Mom's sweater. But now I have to think of something else to get for her....


Also today, Mom and I made pugoch! The BEST cookies to ever exist...eveeer. They're a Christmas tradition in the Newman household :) Pastry cookies with jelly in the center, soooooo delicious and buttery.

Looking past Christmas knitting, I mentioned earlier that I was hoping to start a shawl on my trip to the Bahamas after Christmas...well I got the yarn today! I was very excited, I ordered the yarn (The Alpaca Yarn Company's Suri Elegance) on Friday night and I wasn't sure it would get here before I leave on the 26th, but it did! :) I'm going to be making the Icarus shawl from this past summer's Interweave Knits. I've been eying the pattern since it came out. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm very much looking forward to doing another large(ish) lace project, and one that I don't have to rush on. I can just take my time and enjoy the process. It will be wonderful.

To add to that, I bought my very first pair of Addi Turbos specifically for the project, I can't wait to use them. I took them out after I bought them and..well..they're wonderful..and I didn't even knit anything with them yet! This could be bad, I'm probably going to want Addis in every size now. I can't afford that as a poor college student :/

Now to get some sleep so I can knit more tomorrow! Time is running out.

Past projects #4: the shawl

I think it's time to chronicle the project that ate all my knitting time and memory all last spring ans summer: the shawl.

Sometime spring semester I decided that I should make a lace shawl for my sister, who was married in August. (Hey...I'm ambitious!)

I scoured the internet and knitting books for a pattern I liked. I finally landed the Spanish Peacock shawl from the gallery of Meg Swansen's A Gathering of Lace. Then I had to find a white lace yarn I could use. Lori (sister) is allergic to wool, so that narrows things quite a bit. I eventually chose Misti Alpaca Lace. I started in with a lot of apprehension, but I gained more confidence stitch by stitch.

I think I cast on in the beginning of May. Around and around I went. It was practically the only thing I worked on for months. I had my set backs of course - like the hole I made near the beginning that I was absolutely freaking out about, but turned out to not show up one bit in the finished product. The hardest part for me may have been trying to figure out how to do the edging, which was from Barbara Abbey's Knitting Lace. I had a lot of time to work on it in July, after I had surgery on my foot.

I finally finished the first or second week in August. I was ecstatic. I'd actually finished before the wedding! I couldn't wait to block it out.

The blocking process took me about six hours. (Keep in mind this was my first time block anything, let alone a huge lace shawl.)


There was one mistake I made that was very evident. Instead of a sl2tog-k1-p2sso throughout the pattern, I had been doing a sl1-k2tog-psso the whoooole time. This resulted in an open line between pattern repeats instead of a nice tight line, and also made the pattern go in a pinwheely shape instead of like spokes. This made me really really upset. But I got over it. I told myself it was still beautiful, and anyone who didn't know the pattern wouldn't know the difference.

I felt so empty without that shawl to work on. "This must be what post-partem depression feels like" was my thought.

It was an amazing experience...and I can't wait to start another one.....when classes are out....


Lori loved it. She cried.
:)

Past projects #3-who knows

After this things get a little fuzzy. I can't remember what I knit when and I can't remember everything I knit.

I know I did Bubby and I did Pasha. There were some hats in there for Scott. I did some fingerless gloves for my brother-in law. I started some armwarmers that ar burried and neglected in my stash somewhere.

I started my first lace project during this time. It's a scarf that still has yet to be finished. I'll get around to it some day, right?

I know I did more things, but it's hard to remember until what I did this past summer. Soooo, we'll just mumble this all up as what-the-heck-happened-spring-semester 06? and I'll move to what happend this past summer in the next few posts.