It was one of those days.
One of those days when you forget to make the coffee, and then when you do make it you talk to one of your daughters while you are pouring it, and keep pouring and pouring until the counter is flooded. O yes.
One of those days when someone always seems to be wailing for one reason or another and must come to Momma for kisses or conflict resolution.
(One of those days when you take pictures of your new shawl and you take pictures of the purl side, and don't realize it til after you've posted them on your blog and on Ravelry)
One of those days when you are feeling sluggish and not quite with it.
And into that day came a package. A mysterious package. "I don't remember ordering anything," I tell Bruce. Goodies Unlimited, it said on the package. "Maybe it's a bomb." I said helpfully. So of course he opened it. Very carefully. Out came all manner of delightfully scented things, and at the bottom a little note that said "A Gift from Rhonna"
Oh my! Did I enjoy my bath last night! I don't think I have ever had such an array of specialized products! And just a sniff of the lavender turns my sluggish into peaceful.... Thank you Rhonna for a delightful surprise!
The other good thing about yesterday was getting to wear my new shawl. I had 4 oz. of pygora which I spindle spun and wheel plied, to about 65o yards of laceweight yarn.
I decided to make the small version of Laminaria, a pattern which I loved at first sight. I did end up cutting out one of the blossom repeats because I feared running out of yarn, but because I knit it at such a large gauge it ending up being quite a large shawl. Even so, it doesn't look too sleazy to me, which I guess is just the magic of pygora. If it hadn't been for the pygora article in Spin-off, I could have spent a lot of time finding a guage that I liked. Cough. I used, I realized as I put my needle tips away yesterday, one size 7 tip and one size 8 tip to knit the entire thing! le sigh. And I never noticed anything amiss.
I did slightly adjust one of the motifs at the bottom because I read on Ravelry that it looked like an alien, and then every time I saw that motif, I could see nothing else. Not being especially fond of aliens, I decided to move his nose to his forehead and he rewarded me by not looking so much like himself. He is probably still quite happy though, as aliens rather enjoy having their noses in odd places.
The shawl has not yet been properly blocked, because we seem to have a dearth of straight pins. Time to visit the general store. I did spread it down to dry on the living room floor, and primped.
I had 1 ounce of dark grey and 1 ounce of white pygora from Cary, in cloud form.
I had a little less than an ounce of taupe and a little more than an ounce of white from A Verb for Keeping Warm Ultra Club, in roving form. It was interesting to spin the different preps and see the differences in fineness and sheen between samples. I think I have a slight preference for spinning the clouds.
I wish my shawl were perfect, but once again I have errors. This was such a fun knit, though, and one that really taught me a lot about lace knitting. Thankfully I think the worst errors were right at the beginning and will be covered by my hair, so I guess I'll never cut it.
I have come to the conclusion that I love knitting lace. I don't love knitting socks or little fiddly things with gussets and such, though I really enjoy wearing them. But I love lace. Sigh.
