Shawl Update

I thought it was time to take a picture of my shawl. I've been working and working on it and I thought it would be good to do a little photo comparison!



This J. Knit's lace-a-licious is extremely elastic and full of dreamy, soft texture. I can't wait until it's time to block it.



When I had brought it into the yarn shop before, the one of the owners said it looked almost double-knit. But I don't know what that is. I assume it has something to do with how plush each stitch is.

Here's the post that has the photo from before. By looking at the pictures, it looks like I've done about 15 more rows on it since September. Each row takes about an hour, so I think that this is decent progress. Once I get started on some Christmas creating, I'm sure it'll get put aside for awhile, though.

Hearts

This is the dessert I made tonight upon returning from knit night at Yarns in the Farms. I chopped up some red delicious apples and bosc pears (they were what I had on hand!), tossed in some vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, and ginger and put it on the stove until everything was soft.

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to get the right shapes. On the right is just a sprinkling of cinnamon and on the left is the fresh baked apple walnut bread that Jill's daughter made. (Jill is one of the owners of Yarns in the Farms.)

A homemade candle topped it off. I turned down the lights and surprised the husband with a little treat.

This is the second knit night I've gone to at YitF. The first one was on a Wednesday night, which is run by Carolyn. Both groups of ladies were chatty and inviting and I had a very pleasant time. I again worked on my Lauria's Lovely Lacy Shawl. And again, I received many compliments on my work. No snobbery there!

I also asked the ladies what they thought I should do with my Couch Throw. I'm going to frog back the wonky short rows and do a border. My original intention was to do a border, and I want to do that.

I'll work on that at home and take my shawl out and about. It hasn't grown much since the last time I photographed it. Partially because I realized I had done a couple rows with the wrong hook size and I was concerned about ripping it out. The alpaca is very sticky. But it was suprisingly easy and I've moved a few rows beyond that point now. It takes about an hour and a half to do each row (the eyelit row is quicker!) and I know it's only going to get longer with five increases each row...

Approproated Retro Shawl

Early in July, I was visiting my mom to celebrate my birthday. I went up to the attic and stumbled on a few crochet treasures. The first was a baby blanket that I remember. It's a waffle stitch blanket in a variegated blue, pink, white yarn. When I commented to my mother about it, she told me that she had made it. She started it for me, but finished it for my little sister Kayla whom was born 2.5 years later!

Then I also discovered two shawls in a bag. One was a stiff granny square blue shawl. I'm not big on granny squares, so I didn't pay much head, but underneath it was this lovely shawl:



My mother's best friend made it for her when my mom was 19. So this was back in 1974 or so. They're still best friends, although her mother passed away a year or two ago. I appropriated it, cleaned it and love it!
Here's some stitch detail:


I'm so glad that I found it and that it's in great condition. I feel really good about giving it a new home on my shoulders.

I wear it quite often to work. At work, I sometimes have to wear a respirator because of the chemicals used in the air - my body can't deal with chemicals very well. That makes me look like Darth Vader. So I'll often be found backstage, crocheting away on a project with my mask on and this shawl around my shoulders! People comment on how I look like Darth Grandmother! :-P