Shawl, socks, baby stuff and kids

Shawn's prayer shawl is done. It didn't take too long, but I just had a hard time getting into the groove about doing it. I used a pattern from Jennifer Worick's book Getting Started Knitting. I had done it earlier when I was working on prayer shawls for church. This one turned out much better than the first. I was more confident when I clipped the stitches and adding fringe helped give it a more complete look. I packed it up and will send it first thing in the morning.

I'm going to continue on Jentri's stuff now. Hopefully, I'll get it done before she turns 15! Then I'm going to get started on my nephew's Christmas stuff. My oldest nephew saw a pair of Miller's socks and now he wants some. Who would think that a 17-year-old would want something like that. He even put in a color request.

I thought I'd add a pix of the kids. I took this a couple days after Malorie got back from camp. She had a great time and I think her siblings were definitely ready to see her again. Malorie brought back the stuffed animals Audrey and Miller are holding.

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!!!