Hallelujah I Finished The Prayer Shawl

I finished it!

Praise the Lord!!!

I've been working on it for about a month, trying to find the right pattern to do. Once I did, I finished it in 2 weeks. Tonight I worked in bated breath. Would dropping stitches do what I wanted it to do? I had heard from the pattern designer, "No pressure on the shawl! It's a fun technique to try. It's so counter-intuitive: Knitting something up only to drop stitches at the end. Are you kidding me? But it's so fun to see things unravel but not come undone. Have fun with it." - Jennifer Worick. That was some what reassuring, but I still was a little worried, but when it came out I was so happy with my results.

Here is the before and after shots. The shawl measured out to 9 inches before dropping the stitches. I had a fairly even gauge for my garter stitch. (This is not always the case.)

And now the full length after shot. It increased between 4 to 5 inches. I really loved the way it came out. I used my iron to give it a quick steam blocking. The unraveled stitches were a little wavy and the steam took care of that. (Pardon my messy work table. I really need to recover it!)

Malorie, who has been sick today, watched me as I finished up the unraveling part. "That looks pretty cool," said the stuffed up, feverish 11-year-old. I consider this a really impressive comment, since she is turning preteen on me and I am getting kind of dorky to her. Tomorrow, I'm going to start work on my new bag. I can already feel the excitement of cutting through fabric and fusing!! I'll post another shot of the shawl once it has blocked and is ready to be modeled.

Only 14 More Inches To Go!!!

That's right, only 14 more inches! Now if I would just pull out my shawl and just finish it. I mean really all it would take is 7 inches in 2 days.

This weekend I knitted on our way to Emporia to check out golf clubs for Malorie. I mean really, a 2 hour drive there and a 2 hour drive back to buy golf clubs for an 11 year-old? Well, my DH wanted to go to this golf shop, he works with the owner, so off we went. I know the trip was to get Malorie clubs, but why did Kevin have to get a new wood? I'm beginning to wonder if the trip wasn't more for him than her. Yet, Malorie has gone out with Kevin the last 2 out of 3 days to the driving range to hit balls.

I couldn't believe it when the author of the pattern, Jennifer Worick, posted a comment on my blog. Wow, I was so surprised. Now I feel pressure to make sure it looks really good. At least my gauge is staying the same throughout the project. I went to her blog and what a fun blog. You can check it out here. I wish I could be as devoted as that to blogging.

Well, I'd best get back to the needles, this project isn't going to get done on its own and I really want my new bag!!!

That's My Plan And I'm Sticking To It!!

Where did the month of March go? I feel horrible for not blogging. I had a lot go on last month, so I guess blogging took a back seat. My knitting didn't fall too far behind. I finished my first prayer shawl and a pair of cargo pants for my friend Jodi's brand new nephew. His Aunt Jodi thought they were super cute, but he had a growth spurt and didn't fit them. I plan on making a pair for my sister's new baby when the baby comes in June. The first prayer shawl that I made was from the pattern Wisp. I did this same pattern for my sister, but this time I kept out the button holes and buttons.

I have started my next prayer shawl, but it is really slow going. It's all garter stitch, so I'm really getting tired of it. I checked out a Knitting book at the Library and found a pattern called Fast Favorite Wrap. It's from the book Getting Started Knitting by Jennifer Worick. The pattern has you work garter stitch for 52 inches then when it's time to bind off you drop so many stitches to create open ladder work. I did a test gauge and it turned out fairly nice, now I just need to finish it by the end of the month.

My incentive for finishing the prayer shawl is making this bag. I figured once I finished the bag, it would be big enough for me to take my knitting with me. (See it all comes back around to knitting!) I bought the material and pattern with an April Fool's Day sale at Hancocks of Paducah. It was 20% off all items. I love this fabric store and get stuff from them often.

I've got my plan and now I just need to stick to it. Fortunately I've been booked to substitute teach during this month, so I'll have some extra time to work on the shawl.