It Counts, Right?

Yesterday, I finished knitting my Civil War Shawl. Start to finish, a little over a month and a half. And they said it couldn't be done....

Today, I sewed up the edging seam--it's not great, and I'll likely redo it someday, but for now, it will be fine.

It isn't blocked yet...but I'm still counting it as a finished object.

A BIG finished object. This means I get a cookie, right?

Sitting at my desk, I'm having a doosey of a day, trying to keep from thinking about the task at hand--blocking. I really hate blocking. The yarn is soft and smooshy--it won't block like a cotton thread would--dressing may become an issue. I need a BIG area to spread out a sheet, and before you say it, I can't use my BED--I sleep there! As do the dog and the cats, and what do I do when it's 11pm, and everyone wants to go to bed? Fold it up and toss it in the closet???????

I think not.

I had considered using my mother in law's circular table, but I think it will be too small for this monster. The outer rim is nicely ruffled--it's possible that the article should have gone down a needle size for the outer edges to take out some of the ruffling...I'll keep that in mind for my next one.

Wait a minute, what am I saying????????? Take my temp, baby, I'm either sick or certifiable.

Actually, the center section was a very pleasant knit. It made SENSE, and was easy to memorize once you figured out where the repeats go...the pattern is well written, and if you substitute a D for decrease, and an O for yarn over, and SKP for slip 1, knit 2 together, psso, you could shorten up the pattern by a page or two. In fact, to get the edging pattern on a single page, I rewrote it to follow exactly that--a K2 tog , yo, yo, k2 tog became an A, and doing it twice was a B. I was able to increase the font to 14, bold it, and STILL get it on one page. It was never memorizable (the edging), but I did get to a point about halfway through where I only had to look at the first few stitches on the pattern to know what came next...which made the repeats go a lot faster. The first 50 repeats took me up to 2 hours to complete. After that, only 1-1 1/2 hours to complete.

And that last repeat? Well, it went by so fast, I don't remember doing it. But by then it was mostly relief. My butt is sore from all the sitting this last weekend.

But it's finished. It really really is.

And I am exceedingly happy about that.

And to top it all off, it's a lovely day outside. People have commented about my project--and how wonderful it is (wait until they see it blocked!).

I'm planning to wear my outfit to work on the 22nd, and the shawl will complement it, of course. And I will have pictures taken--lots of them, with my wheel and my doggie, and with sheeps--though it would be better if I was feeding some free-range chickens, or even baby chicks--it's a wide open world.

I'm also thinking about going to the ceilidh at Alma--wearing my outfit--to see what people have to say. I'm pretty sure that I'll get LOTS of compliments on it. I am SO looking forward to the ceilidh!

So there you go. Pictures when I get home from my cellie--but I think I will go into the cafeteria at my breaktime to take pics with my camera, which will be much better than the pics from my cellie. So for now, it's a LATER!