Thursday, March 06, 2008

Finished!

Oh, I am pleased. I am so very pleased. This afternoon when I should have been doing other things (like tending my pathetic excuse for a garden), I charged through the i-cord on the top of the Pacific Northwest shawl. I’d finished the last of the Endless Edge Scallops over coffee this morning (they actually started going pretty quickly by the end, there), and thought I had hours and hours left because of the i-cord.

Oh, the whining! You would not believe how much whining I did over that i-cord…it looks awesome, though, makes for a very nice, finished look at the top.

Once I got started on it, it went by in a flash. Seriously faster than I expected – in about an hour, I’d finished the whole thing and it was taking a quick ride on the ‘silk’ setting of my front load washer.

And then, the blob became this:

knitting

The magic of blocking strikes again.

The only thing I’m not 100% delighted with is that the patterns don’t show as nicely in “real life” as they do here. The variegated yarn kind of makes them vanish – I don’t think the ‘seagulls, pine trees, silver dollars, waves, bubbles and fish’ thing is going to be that obvious when it’s being worn around town. If I do this again, I’ll try a solid color.

But frankly, the colors are not being done justice here, either. They are rich purples, surprises of orange and red, flashes of yellow, some rich royal blues…gorgeous, gorgeous colors.

I’m in such a happy knitting-head space that I took Lillehammer out of the penalty box and got back to work on it. Pulled out the sleeve back to where I messed things up and started fresh.

I think we’ve forgiven each other. Or at the very least, when I took the main sweater out of my knitting basket and looked at it, I found myself saying, “This really is a stunning pattern, and how lovely that dusky green is at the hems…”

And then the wool obligingly frogged and gave me two inches of quick sleeve-growth while we watched the new Spongebob episode (sadly, I was not forced by the children) and the news.

This is the knitting equivalent of kissing and making up.

Hopefully, I’ll have some progress pictures to post on that project soon…

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

The shawl is just beautiful! Great job1

Anonymous said...

Oh wow...that is absolutely lovely. Don't suppose you'd consider making me your new best friend, would you? No? Darn...well, it was worth a shot! The shawl is amazing.

Kris said...

How Fantastic!! It's gorgeous.

Did the kids get a hold of the camera? I think I almost see a faint finger print...my little mac does this all the time.

Amy Lane said...

My breath just caught in my chest--what lovely knitting! (I like variegated colors...name a pattern and I'll say it's good.)

marit said...

That's beautiful shawl! Great job!
I like the sweater too...and since we Norwegians tend to be a little stubborn ,that goes for Norwegian knittingpatterns too-LOL! I'm sure you'll set it straight though!

Lydee said...

That's a beautiful shawl. I love the designs!

Jen said...

OMGawsh! It's gorgeous! :)

Louiz said...

That's just beautiful

PipneyJane said...

It's gorgeous, Tama!

- Pam

Anonymous said...

Beautiful shawl! The motifs and colors look great from here — so I can't imagine how they look in person.

MadMad said...

Oh! It. is.beautiful. Wow!