Finish-it-upis 2011

I've threatened many times to go on a finishing kick, but never quite succeeded.  Until recently.

I'm happy to say that over the past month I have finished and blocked six shawls that have been laguishing in the knitting basket for upwards of a year or more.  They are all beautiful shawls, but during their construction, I got bit by the designing bug and, sadly, they waited to be finished.

One just needed the ends tied in and to be blocked. It started out as different shawl and ended up with an edge modified from Elina.  It's made with Knit Picks Andean Treasure.

A couple of them I just worked to a seemingly natural edge and bound off ('cause otherwise they wouldn't get finished.)

Dracula's Bride: A Goddess Knits shawl that I started it two years ago as a present for GiGi.  It's in Knit Picks Palette in Garnet Heather and Black.

Butterfly Garden:  An Evelyn Clark Shawl that I knit in Knit Picks Gloss lace in Blue Bird (a discontinuted color).  I changed the edging to leaves because I liked the effect from Butterfly Bush.

Spider Web Shawl: From Victorian Lace Today, I decided to just bind it off because it was too big to rip out.  It's knit in Palette in Calypso Heather

Lace Leaf Shawl: Another Evelyn Clark shawl knit in Filatura Cervinia Calzetteria which is, unfortunately, quite itchy even after washing.

Plus a couple of shawls that I improvised when I was in need of movie knitting.

Schaefer Heather in the Wendy colorway.

Knit Picks Gossamer in the Caribbean color.  (So old that even the yarn line is discontinued.)

And last, but not least, Citron. 

Citron was the first not-from-my-head project that I knit after I started designing.  The crazy part is that for the first week or so that I knit it, I felt guilty, like I was stealing someone else's pattern.  I managed to get over that, but poor Citron stalled at the edge.  I'm happy to say that it's finished and I love it.  Worked in Malabrigo Lace in the Snow Bird color way, it is soft and delightful.

I should be nice and toasty this winter,

Joyce

Where did October go?

Wow, I completely missed October. I guess I was just having too much fun knitting and not taking the time to write about it.

Let's start with mystery knit alongs. I decided to wait on the Halloween Mystery Shawl (Dracula's Bride) because after making the swatch, I realized that the yarn I had chosen was too thin for the size needles I was using. I couldn't go down a size because those needles already had a shawl on them. So the shawl (and GiGi) has to wait until I finish the Shaped Triangle Shawl (from A Gathering of Lace) I'm making for my mom for Christmas. (Hopefully she doesn't read my blog before I give it to her. On the off chance she does, I can't include a picture of it until after I give it to her. Bummer.)

So instead of the Halloween Shawl, I am participating in "The Secret of the Stole." I really like the pattern. The chart is very easy to follow. The pattern comes as a series of hints with one hint posted on the yahoo group page each week. To give you an idea of what it looks like:

Hint 1

Hint 2

Hints 3 and 4

Hint 5 is still in progress. I am having a great time knitting this stole.

I've also been knitting a lot of hats (does four count as a lot?). Because they are all also Christmas presents, I can't share them with you until after the holidays.

See you soon.

Happy knitting!