So, this will be a very pic-intense post. As I promised, I will show you photos of the shawl. The first one is when I just laid it out to see if it would fit on my blocking-squares. It did not, by the way...
As I started covering the foam squares with towels, to avoid potential staining from the squares, I placed needles at the corners to hold the towels in place. Hobbe then proceded to pull the needles out with his mouth, prompting me to place the blocking in the only room we can close: The bedroom. I then discovered that the shawl would not fit on our bed, so I've blocked it half at a time. The next photo is just a detail of the shawl during blocking. I pinned out all the little holes in the center of the sjawl, to make sure tehy turned out nicely. I probably used around 400 needles all in all...
When the blocking was complete, the shawl was huge! It's more than 2 meters wide. I don't really know when, or how, I will use it, but I suppose I can fold it to shorten it at least.
The sun was really in my eyes in the picture, and i made me look very funny, so I cut my head out of the photo. The following photos show details of the shawl after blocking. I am very happy with how the shawl looks, it's absolutely beautiful. It's just too bad with the size.
I really like how the pearls look too. I just put them at all the edges and down the center line of the shawl, so they aren't too "blingy", they just accentuate the pattern in a very nice way.
On a completely different note, this Friday I went to my very first knitting café. It was so much fun, and the six or seven people that had gathered were all so nice and welcoming! The next "date" is on Wednesday, and I'm not sure if I'll have time because my thesis needs to have it's final approvement on that very same day. But if I cant't make it then, I'll definitely go the week after that. My new motto is that you are never too old to make new friends!
Then on Saturday morning my favourite yarn shop had a grand re-opening. They have switched owners, so the new owners had redecorated the shop and bought in some new yarn brands and accessories. Needless to say, I was there at opening time, and managed to buy way too much stuff. Most of the yarn I bought had reduced cost on opening day only, so I don't think I spent too much money anyhow. The first item I bought was this:
It's a shawl holding needle. It goes very well with the purple shawl, and since I'm now a lace fanatic I suppose there will be many more shawls in the future. So I expect this needle to come to great use. If you're wondering, the photo is taken on Hobbe's cat tower. Don't ask why, it just seemed like a good background at the time.
I bought these tow skeins of cotton yarns. Since we've been having such nice weather lately, I figured I would take the photos outside, in the shade. Hobbe was very interested in why there was yarn on the garden table? The yarn on the left is pure cotton, and I think I plan to use it to make some more crocheted amigurumi stuffed animals. The skein to the right I don't really know what I'll make of yet, but I just loved the colours. I'm sure it will turn into something nice. It's a cotton /milk fiber blend that I've never tried before.
The first fifty customers also got to choose a gift from a giftbasket at the counter, and I chose a little snow-woman/mushroom in wood, used for spool knitting! I've seen this method described in the Vouge knitting book, but never tried it, so I thought that was a perfect gift for me! It's really easy to use, and as you can see in the photo, I've already made about 50 cm of cord. It's not for something, only for me to learn a new technique. But I can see it being useful for making cords for clothes and such.
I bought the yarn yesterday too, and it's also pure cotton. It's the same with this as with the last skein: I don't know what I'll use it for yet, but I love the colouring so I just had to have it!
One very nice suprise with the new store was that they actually had KnitPicks needles! So now I don't have to order them over the internet, and can support the local store instead. So of course I had to buy some...
They are 15 cm double-pointed needles in Harmony Wood, size 2, 2.25, 2.50, 2.75, 3 and 3.25 mm thick, and there are 6 of each size! Absolutely wonderful, I think I will have to buy a pair of chunky ones later on as well. I also bought a crochet needle, size 3 mm, in bamboo too, but unfortunately I forgot to photograph it. Maybe it's just as well, it is very plain, but it will definitely come in handy for those amigurumi toys I plan to make.
As you can see in the photo, one pocket is allready empty. That's because I had to start a new project as soon as I got home yesterday: I'm making these lace socks from Drops Garnstudio. This is because I actually made one more purchase yesterday: I bought two skeins of 100 % milk fiber yarn!
I've never even heard of milk fiber before, and I'm itching to find out how it's made (I haven't gotten around to look it up yet). It's super-soft, and I love the colour as well. Unfortunately, it's been a while since I used dpn's, and I've had to frog the socks three times already, because I knit too losely on these needles. I think I've finally gotten the hang of it now, but I think I will use a lifeline when I get to the heel this time. I don't think I have ever used such thin needles before either, so I need a little practice.
I also started the tunic from Drops on Friday, I think, but Iv'e had to frog that one twice as well. The first time I didn't like how the jog turned out (it's knitted in the round), and despite various tries to fix it with slipped stiches and such, it just looked ugly. So I frogged it. The next time around I noticed that the tunic looked a little small. I checked the pattern once more, and realized I had the wrong sized needles. The pattern asks to use two different sizes for different parts of the tunic, and I had picked the wrong ones to start with. So it was only frogging left to do - again! And since the first row is 230 stiches, I haven't had the energy to start again. Maybe I will later tonight.
Now I'll go help my husband to fix the food for tonight's BBQ. Since the weather usually isn't this nice for very long in the swedish summers, we use the barbie as much as possible while we can. Tonight I think it's pork chops on the menu.
/ Jenny
