Saturday, June 10, 2006

Yee-Haw! Clue 4 is Done

Yee-Haw! I finally finished knitting the Clue 4 section of my pi shawl. Yup, all 96 blessed rows of the durn thang! Yes, it's beautiful, but I am half batty. I would have jumped up and down swinging my arms wildly in jubilation but 1) I have *so* much pain in my right shoulder and arm right now I could cry--swinging is out, and 2) I ain't done yet. Nope, gotta double those stitches to a ridiculous 1152 and starting bleeding--uh, start knitting the bleeding heart border that is. But that will have to wait until my care package from Knit Picks arrives with a 60" Addi circular needle in it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever need a needle that long, but it was a snug (for me) fit to knit 576 sts on 32" and nothing short of 60" will handle this monster. I finished my 3rd ball of yarn on row 93 so it's taken about 1400 yds to knit the main portion of the shawl. Another yikes! I have 2 more skeins so I know I have enough to finish the border to my satisfaction.

I picked up some ufo socks (Holly's Socks) to knit on this afternoon. It's too warm to wear them right now, but I'd like to get them finished and off the needles. I still have the leaf shawl in coral Zephyr left to finish, but it's not talking to me at the moment. I could cast-on for the ostrich plumes scarf I promised to test knit for someone on the knitlist who hopes to publish the pattern. The glitch is she hasn't gotten the yarn or a commitment from the supplier that she hopes to use and frankly, I don't want to waste my time knitting it up in something else that may not meet her needs in the long run. The pattern is OK, basically a standard lace pattern with a simple selvedge edge on each side. It's knit in 2 pieces and grafted together at the center back, so it should be good for a newbie lace knitter. I have some fingering wt mohair that might work nicely and it's just enough for the project. I hate to dip into some of my lacewt stuff that is enough for a shawl to do a scarf. or I could use some of the leftover cashmerino from the Kiri shawl. That might be really nice too. Hmmmm.

I signed up for another mystery KAL that starts in July. I should have the pi shawl finished by then (please!!!!) so the timing is good. I missed out on the Amazing Lace Race KAL that I wanted to do, but my priority was to finish the pi so I wasn't able to meet the time frame. Ah, so many projects, so little time & energy & yarn. After all, there *is* more to life than knitting. Yup, like gardening. It was hot a dry today and I hauled the hose around twice today. But I have lots of baby tomatoes growing and my veggie box is progressing. My new hydrangeas are just starting to bloom (a big bluebird lacecap in a pot and 2 little forever pinks outside my window). The front bed is bursting out with daisies and the new transplants in the rose garden are making it despite the lack of rain. The liatris is also on the verge of blooming in the rose garden despite the bunnies nibbling on the leaves at night. Yup, I had to do another chili powder treatment yesterday to discourage the little critters. I love 'em but I want them to eat other things.

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