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February 21, 2006
Spider Queen--Day 20
(Oscar thoughtfully contributed a couple of toys to this picture.)
My first border/trapezoid is finished and measures 66 inches across the top. That's big.
I am so pleased thus far that I'm not even dreading the thought of knitting the border three more times. Not yet, anyway.
Posted by missalicefaye at 03:37 PM | Comments (5)
February 20, 2006
Faroese shawl
The Faroese Shawl from A Gathering of Lace. Finally blocked--and not a terribly fun thing to block, as it has no straight lines.
I finished this one in about two weeks last month--I was looking for a smaller project to complete between the Magickal Earth and Spider Queen extravaganzas.
2 skeins of Knit Picks' Alpaca Cloud, peppermint. Knit on size 3 needles.
How the chair looks wearing it:
How I look wearing it (Disclaimer: keep in mind that it's Sunday and I haven't properly groomed. I know my hair looks funny.):
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:53 AM | Comments (7)
February 16, 2006
Spider Queen--Day 15
The center panel is finished and I'm working on the first border--each of the four sides is worked separately then sewn together at the end. So until the final reveal, this thing is going to look like a square with an ever-increasing number of trapezoids protruding from it. :)
Knitting this shawl has become quite the compulsion. Unlike Magickal Earth, this is has lace patterning on every row, rather than alternating with plain knitting every other row. (Knitted lace vs. lace knitting, if you want to get all esoteric about it.) In other words, it takes a lot of concentration and can totally suck me in for hours upon hours at a time.
I am currently suffering withdrawal symptoms.
Posted by missalicefaye at 02:24 PM | Comments (3)
February 13, 2006
Reflections on the Blizzard
The snow blower is a beautiful thing.
Posted by missalicefaye at 08:27 AM | Comments (3)
February 08, 2006
Look at the pretty colors
Bereft of our Spider Queen during the long hours of the working day, we turn to the Sock for lunchtime craft comfort.
Over halfway through the center square of the Queen at this point--only 80 hours or so to go, if the pattern is to be believed.
It is Predicted that we are to have a wee blizzard this weekend. Perhaps you will be treated to pictures of a frollicking Oscar on Monday.
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:28 AM | Comments (2)
February 06, 2006
The Spider Queen
Here we have almost two repeats of the center square, meaning that the center square is about 1/3 finished. Five evenings' worth of work, plus the non-Home Depot browsing and non-cleaning bits of the weekend.
I like the spiders. Once again, I am using Jaggerspun Zephyr, this time in Mushroom. (I may have at one point said that Magickal Earth was in Mushroom, but that was a lie. It was Suede.) Size 3 needles, so progress is made a bit more quickly.
My goal with this project is to finish it in significantly less than 10 months. I'm feeling pretty focused and resolute right now, but it's only been five days.
Oh, and if any of you actually caught that reference to me working on the Faroese Shawl from A Gathering of Lace a few posts back--well, I just never got around to posting about it during the two weeks I was working on it. It's done, but not yet blocked. And it currently looks like a wrinkly butterfly:
So you'll probably have to wait until next week for pretty pictures. Must work up the energy to deal with all those pins again.
Posted by missalicefaye at 03:48 PM | Comments (10)
February 03, 2006
Friday dispatch
I would like to be able to show you my two days' worth of Spider Queen progress, but I was too busy knitting to pose it for a proper picture. Instead, you get the above lion (fancy miniature lion?) card, printed with the precious gocco, and the still life with tatting and wrist rest below:
Merry Friday!
Posted by missalicefaye at 02:18 PM | Comments (3)
February 01, 2006
Home improvement
Our basement needed help, so we decided to give it a new floor.
Squishy black underlayment.
Jon negotiates the Corner of Despair.
Handy visual cues for cutting.
Almost there.
Done. (The blurriness is an accurate indication of our respective states of mind after 8 hours of wrestling with "easy lock" flooring. I don't see how those people on the DIY network do these things without falling into homicidal despair. Perhaps they're smart enough to use knee pads.)
Next weekend: agonizing over paint colors
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Thanks for all of your super nice comments on the shawl! :) Yay persistence! Should be good practice for the Spider Queen....
Posted by missalicefaye at 11:17 AM | Comments (3)
