Oh My God, I Love the Lace

Lace has always intimidated me. I made an entire shawl that I wound up ripping because I didn't know about blocking (it may still have been too small, even if I did block it). But then I started making the "Simple Elegance" shawl by Krystopher Dixon. Oh my goodness is it lovely. It's only a 16 line repeat with the even rows being purled across, so it's not too intimidating to get through a whole repeat of the pattern. I bought two skeins of the Tonos Pima Silk for it, and the first skein brought me 29 inches of pattern. So total, it would be about 5 feet long, pre-blocking. I have called the store to see if they have one more skein - I would love for it to be a little longer than 5 feet, but I'm okay with it being five feet if they do not.

But I am loving working the pattern. I am loving that a few little yarn overs brings me this fabulous curvacious pattern snaking up the yarn.

Frogging, Frogging, Frogging

I finished the baby blanket for my friends who had the baby. It was supposed to be a square. You start off with three stitches and increase one stitch each row until you reach the midpoint, then decrease one stitch each row until you get back down to three. See? Square. Mine? Um, not so much a square. It sort of looked square if you held it up but if you tried to fold it, it wouldn't line up right. So I ripped it. Ripped the whole darn thing. I tried blocking it, washing it in the washing machine and pinning it, steam blocking the heck out of it, killing the acrylic, the whole deal. Didn't work. So I ripped it. It was mildly painful, but not so bad because I hated the way it looked. I will re-do it as a regular striped blanket (with the stripes going the long way to look more like pinstripes). And I have a baby outfit and the shrek hat to give her right away, so she'll just have to get the blanket when she gets it.

Under the Gun

I don't know why I always do this. I am always knitting under the gun. Friends of mine, L and S are having a baby (well, now, have had a baby). They are big Yankee fans, but it didn't occur to me to make a yankee-themed gift for their baby, so I made the Cotton Candy Jacket I mentioned on June 5th. And of course, at the shower, she mentioned something about how the baby, regardless of gender, would be a Yankee fan. So I started a Yankee blanket. Her due date was 8/9/10, but she had the baby yesterday. A little girl, everyone is happy and healthy. And now, I'm under the gun to finish the Yankee blanket! I'm more than halfway done - it's one of those where you increase until you reach x inches across and then decrease in the ensuing rows.