This is where I left off with the pink picot edge socks. I had just finished the cuff of the second sock and it is now time to knit the hem under.
After rushing through the shawl on a tight deadline I’m really looking forward to getting back to the sock. The shawl required a lot of counting and paying attention. Once I’ve knit the hem row the socks will be a mindless project. There is a lot to be said for mixing a mindless project in between brain taxing projects.
My Waiting For Rain is done! Totally done! I’ve woven in the ends, blocked it and put the photo on The Loopy Ewe website. Now I don’t have to worry about getting it done by the end of the month.
It ended up being a lovely large size but not too long. The picot bind off was worth the three plus days it took. I incorporated one other helpful tip from Ravelry. I put a YO between the first two stitches on each row and dropped them at the end of the row. This really loosened up the edge stitches which often tend to be too tight.
The pattern is Waiting For Rain by Sylvia McFadden. The yarn is JulieSpins Euro Fingering in abalone. The pattern was quite well written and mostly easy to follow. The extra hacking instructions that come as part of the pattern purchase is a bonus that really helps. There is a lot of counting with this pattern but having a lot of stitch markers helps. I put a stitch marker every 25 stitches just to make counting easier. The yarn is really nice. The skeins are a generous 820 yards. The color is really nice, even prettier in person. It is a wee bit splity which I discovered early on so I paid extra attention when knitting 2 or 3 stitches together which is where I ran into the problem. I recommend both the pattern and the yarn.
This shawl was my July Camp Loopy project. The requirement for July was to knit a project that is a challenge. This shawl had multiple challenges for me. It was my first time knitting short rows in lace, the first time I’ve knit a pattern by this designer, and this is the most yardage I’ve knit in such a short time. I had to rush this project because I didn’t want it hanging over my head while I was on vacation. I also knew there was no way I could knit this while on vacation.
Look at how lucky we are! Not only is my neighbor a knitter but she also bakes! She bakes really well. These were the most delicious blueberry muffins. Thank you knitting neighbor!
I finished the binding off of Waiting For Rain yesterday and immediately got to the business of blocking. My house is not blocking friendly. The rooms are too small and we have too much furniture and a certain dog doesn’t allow us to leave things out of place on the floor. The best I could do was rig up a blocking surface over the porch table and chairs.
I wanted to try blocking with unwaxed dental floss. At a minimum I was going to use it along the straight edge. I wove through the floss, wet the whole shebang and plopped it on the mats. I still used a bunch of pins along the straight edge but pulling the floss did straighten the line. I’m not sure I’m sold on this method. I’ll decide once it’s dry.
After some serious spreading and pinning. There are a lot of picots to pin! It isn’t perfectly blocked. I concentrated on the picots and opening up the lace.
Now we wait while it dries. One huge plus to porch blocking is that it’s hot as hell out there and the shawl should dry quickly.
Myles has been stressed lately. He hates when any of his family leaves the house. This is what he does when The Husband is out. He stands at the window and when he sees a car, any car, he whines pitifully.
The Husband had gone to the pet store for dog food. While he was there they were having an ice cream social for dogs so he brought Myles home a doggie sundae. He gobbled up every bit and then tried to eat the bowl. I bet he’ll expect one every time The Husband returns from the pet store.
I knew having The Husband home would slow my knitting down even more. I’ve only gotten about 2 feet bound off.
We have been getting a bunch of errands done and of course we went out for our weekly ice cream.
The Husband isn’t the only thing that’s gotten in the way of my knitting. Myles has learned to jump off our bed. He takes every opportunity to leap off and then returns wanting to get back up. Of course he can’t jump up without a hand, the hand I’m trying to knit with. He’s the quirkiest dog I’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot because we had Riley the Yorkie who was incapable of being more than 3 inches from my side at any moment.
The top is 30 minutes of picot bind off. To say it’s slow is an understatement. I’m afraid it’s going to take as long to bind off as it did to knit the entire shawl. Maybe I’ll speed up a bit when I don’t have to look at the instructions for every stitch. It’s going to be worth it though. The shawl deserves the fancy edge.
