Sheer redness

Everything must have a silver lining, even the departure of beloved daughters from their family home to college.  These days, one semester at a time, I have a spare bedroom at my disposal. More to the point, a spare, uncluttered bedroom floor, in which I can block all those items that aren't going to fit on my blocking board.  This is what the college girl's room looked like a couple of days ago:

The Corner to Corner shawl was not easy to block, in spite of all this clean space. The geometric design meant that besides the rectangular sides, the three lace panels also needed to be aligned properly. My blocking "board" in this endeavor was an old bed sheet with a woven square pattern, which has served me well in the past. This time, though, the white on white patterning was a big challenge.  I didn't remember in time that I have a striped sheet somewhere that would have made the job much easier.

Blocking took forever. Each long side required three wires to be woven in and out of their edges. Then came the pinning and re-pinning. On the blocking board, I like to use a good shot of steam from the iron, but I couldn't do that on the carpet fiber.  I simply soaked the shawl in Eucalan, then  gave it a quick spin inside a mesh bag in my washing machine. It came out just damp enough to respond to the blocking beautifully.

And here it is, in all its red, sheer, glory!  Romi ,who has knitted this shawl too, predicted that it would open up a good deal when blocked, and she was right.

Now why was I ever whining about how long this project was going to take? I loved knitting it and I feel a little forlorn without a lace project on the needles right now. But I am also motivated to finish more projects before I cast about, and cast on, for the next big thing.

Actually, the striped blanket is only a couple of rows short of completion. I powered my way through it in the last few days and saw it devour 13 skeins of good, warm wool in the process.  I'll bind off tonight while catching up with season 7 of the West Wing .

The purple scarf is all done but I won't post a FO picture of it unless it has reached its recipient, just in time for the recipient's birthday, I hope.

And so I revert to the good old rule of three, which will find me with just two items on the needles: the mitered jacket and the log-cabin blanket. Does that mean it's time to cast on for something peachy pink and Rowan-styled? Stay tuned.

Comments

[Libby]

Il est absolument fabuleux. Quel splendide travail.

[Karen]

Just beautiful!! I've enjoyed reading about this lovely shawl, gorgeous! Thank you, Karen

[Kerstin]

It's beautiful! Makes me want to cast on for a big lace project.

[Karen]

It is just gorgeous!

[Romi]

That is exquisite! You must wear it to Stitches next year! What's your next lace project? ;)

[Petria]

Ah, this must be what Cole Porter meant when he wrote about a "trip to the moon on gossamer wings". Beautiful!

[Kathryn]

C'est la fin des haricots! C'est magnifique!