FO: shawl

The swallowtail shawl for my mom has been finished for 2 days now, but I finally got a chance to block it. I'm not a huge fan of blocking - don't get me wrong, I understand the principle behind it and I know that it makes things look better... but I also think that all projects have to be blocked to look good. I'll come clean, but totally deny it if you tell anyone: I never blocked this.

However, with a shawl done almost entirely in lace (i.e. every right side row at least has yo's and other lacey bits) I needed to block. Before blocking the OSCBF (who, by the by, is now officially Dr. OSCBF... he defended his thesis about 3 weeks ago and handed in the final draft to grad studies last week!) asked if I really thought my mom could wear it as a shawl... it looked more like a small triangular doily. So here are two pictures of it blocking... it's still smaller than I would really like to see it but I ran out of pins while blocking and had to run to the tailoring store across the street... so it was a bit dryer and I didn't want to rip anything... I know it can take it, but let's face it, I was getting annoyed and didn't want to go back and re-pin the whole thing. Can I soak and re-block in a day or two??

Apologies about the dark pictures... rainy, grey day + indoors + blocked on top of a garbage bag (I heard it helps it dry quicker plus it keeps the carpet from getting wet and potentially smelling like wet alpaca... which basically just smells like wet dog...) = not very good pictures.




I'll try to get a picture of it on my mom when I give it to her, hopefully this weekend, depending on the number of times I attempt to re-block.

The last few days I've been itching to cast on, and I want to keep within my summer knitting goals so I am using the schafer anne yarn (on the left side of the picture) to make the silk cami from LMKG. It was the original intent for the yarn, although I've hemmed and hawed over it... I mean, it is techincally merino, mohair and nylon, but I've paired it with a strand of bamboo... it's not that summery and the tank is. However, I'm almost always cold so maybe I'll be happy to have a pretty tank to go under v-necks and cardigans in the winter that also keeps me warmish... we'll see. I'm just not really a sock knitter. I don't mind knitting socks once in a while, but they aren't the projects that keep my attention. Remember this sock? Her partner is only about a 1/4 finished and that was APRIL when I posted the first one.

I'm going to reassess my summer goals and add new ones based on the yarns I've acquired more recently in the next day or two. Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat blog.