Feverishly Finishing and Basically Blocking.....

Dear Laura:

Fana is incredible!! You did an amazing job - and made the yarn last as well! I didn't see anything wrong with the white facing around the collar, but now that I see it done, you were so correct to make that work with the grey.

Thanks for link to the lace lessons. I'm also about to embark on a lace project. I've been looking at this book, Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls. There is a great picture inside of a baptismal blanket that they have translated into a shawl. I would like to translate it back into a baptismal blanket. My oldest God-daughter will have her first baby in August, and this will be my gift.

I've had a wild fit of finishing and blocking this weekend! I've got a bunch of items laying out to dry. This is the view of my dining room table....

The scarf along the bottom of the picture is one that I actually knitted last spring. I never blocked it - just wove in the ends and put it away until cool weather. I've worn it a lot this winter, and so I decided that as long as I was blocking, I would give it a handwash and long over-due block. I was inspired by Crazy Aunt Purl and her blocking of a scarf. She steam-blocks and stretched her scarf more than I did, but I was amazed at how much wider it is and how great that looks.

I had gotten the baby sweater off the needles the other day, but I added buttons and blocked it. I also took some of the left-over yarn and fashioned a coordinating hat. The buttons are a little large, but I could not resist. They look like the face of a frog in a bubble. I had them in my button jar, waiting for the right project. This baby's grandma collects frogs, so I know she will love these. I had an extra button, so I added it to the top-knot on the hat.

I also drug out my sewing machine and hemmed the flannel receiving blanket that I picked up at the fabric store last week. It has a similar background color, and some cute frogs, so I have a theme going.
Also shown on the blocking table are the orange mittens I've been working on. I sat down and gave them a couple hours of undivided attention and viola! Two mittens, one right-hand and one left-hand. If you were beginning to wonder if these would ever happen, you're not alone! My poor God-son has waited since Epiphany...and he gets them at the same time we see the first signs of spring!

I picked up "Lily's Hat" and made the repairs to the purple part. I was pretty apprehensive when I first looked at it.


Closer scrutiny in better light was not comforting. I started that hat at the top of the dark purple hat, so dropped stitches were running differently than I anticipated and were part of the increases.
I took it one step at a time tho, and it turned out beautifully. You'd never know there had been a repair made. I'm not sure if I'm blocking it correctly, but it is pretty thick when it is doubled, so I didn't want to try to dry it that way.

Finally, I added the fringe to my red stripe scarf.

Whew!! Now I can work on other projects with a relatively clear conscience! Not that I think there will be much knitting at my house this week. I have a big database project for one of my part-time jobs, so other than lunch hour I won't be knitting until that is done.

But you can....

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)