little bit of crazy leaking out

. . . ummm, I think so.

This is how far I was last night when I fell asleep with the knitting still in my hands.  I picked it up this morning to get a pictoral record, and I noticed how . . . flacid . . . the ball of yarn was.  Hmm.  I pulled out the trusty postal and weighed the partial sock, ball of yarn and one bamboo needle weighed in at 26g.  I then weighed the finished sock plus 1 bamboo needle . . . 27g.

You see the problem here.  The second sock may end up with a contrast toe.

. . . growing under my feet.  I cast on Branching out on Saturday night, hey if I can knit up a whole shawl, a scarf shouldn’t be any trouble.  Especially since I finally found where my skein of SilkyWool was hiding (under the bed, in a bag, with 3 balls of sock yarn).

. . . but it has been put on hold because I realized last night that tomorrow is the end of the month. If I want credit for the Sock-a-Month KAL I have to knit up the mate to the one I knit in January. 

No worries, I am SuperKnitter; able knit lace shawls in a single fortnight.  Ok, I think I’ve let this one go to my head a bit, lol.  I cast on the sock this morning and will work on it again tonight and I still have all day tomorrow . . . no worries.

Pattern:  Lace Leaf Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark for Fiber Trends
Yarn:  Mountain Colors, Mountain Goat - 55% Mohair 45% Wool - the colorway is Silverbow (now disc), I bought the yarn on clearance last summer.  I have about 60g (about 135yds) remaining of the 4 100g skeins I started with.
Needles:  Clover Bamboo
Started:  Feb 10th
Finished:  cast off - Feb 24th; blocked - Feb 25th
Notes:  I knit 11 repeats of Chart 2.  This was knit for the Knitting Olympics and the Evelyn Clark KAL.  This was my first shawl and first real lace project.   

I do have to say that this project made me feel more confident about my knitting abilities. I mean, if I can knit a lace shawl in less than 16 days, I can do anything.

ETA: my Gold Medal

Why does it seem all the magazines, I like to pick up, come out all at once?  I had to run to the store to pick up pins to block my shawl, and there they were, four magazines I almost always pick up and one I occasionally buy.  I know, if I am picking up more than half of them a year I should just subscribe, but I haven’t yet.  I also ran thru the pattern section and picked up a booklet on adding crochet edges to fleece baby blankets.

Since I was at the craft store I picked up a package of beading needles so I can start Odessa and some tiny crochet needles for beading Mrs Beeton.

I did get the pins to block the shawl, I have a history of not getting the one thing I went to the store to buy and having to go back . . . and since US Olympic Team Gold Medalists receive performance bonuses I thought I should get one too.

I know opinion varies on this needle set, but (one of) the next projects I am planning calls for a 40″ US11.  I was planning on getting Clover Bamboos, but I have recently been told the join on the 40″ circs were not too good, hmmm.  I looked at AddiTurbos but they scare me because I have a nickle allergy and I don’t want my hands to get red and ichy, I know, I’m picky like that, and I have a fear of buying them and then needing to buy another set because I don’t get gauge with the first ones.  This way I can just switch out tips until I find the one that works.

Here is the shawl, all dry and folded nicely.  The final reveal will be tomorrow when the sun is out and I can get a good pic outside.

I soaked it; I spun out the water in the machine, on gentle; now it is on the bed, blocked to within an inch of its life.

After blocking out this shawl, I can see where blocking wires would come in handy, if you did a lot of lace knitting.

I really like the look of this pattern and I would like to knit it again in a lighter weight yarn, maybe fingering, I’m not sure if I am ready for lace weight. 

. . . she is fini.  The blocking, she is not. 

I spent yesterday at the Seattle Home & Garden Show, with the kids and my folks, good times.  I got lots of ideas, but lost a large amount of knitting time. 

That’s ok, I finished the knitting last night and then bound off this morning.  I will be blocking it tomorrow morning and hoping it dries before bed time, since the bed is the only place I can block the shawl.

I am having to resort to performance enhancing substances.

Caffeine and carb loading, in the form of those huge Costco muffins. I was sitting, knitting, after lunch and started to nod off, guess I’ll be making a 2nd pot of coffee today.