Stonington Shawl designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Stonington is done!  I love knitting this shawl and it is the second time I have done so.  In the exact same yarn to boot.  I don’t believe I stretched it as far as last time so it came out a bit smaller.  Last time it stood off of the blocking medium but this time was a gentle stretch.  My daughter said it is big enough to be a cover which a shawl is after all :smiles:

So I asked a woodworking friend if he could build a blocking frame for me and I was thinking of waiting a few months to see if he would build me one before blocking but then I was all nah stop procrastinating–just do a block and stop obsessing about perfection.  Too big to fit on my camera frame even tho I was standing on a stool.  Pictures:

corner pinned out quickly

I didn’t measure or anything like that just pinned as I saw fit.  Thankfully my coverlet does have a checkered pattern so I can generally keep things lined up.  For those of us without blocking boards or frames having a checkered sheet or coverlet is most helpful.  Even blocking wires can bow under pressure {all of mine are permanently curved by now} so having a line in the background to pin to is a necessity.

For a while I collected Doily pattern books.  The Burda magazines with Niebling patterns required a long trip to a particular yarn store that sometimes maybe might have the sought after edition.  Or there was ordering online for the special Kunstricken editions-sometimes from overseas.  Then I realized I had a strong preference for knitting geometric designs instead of organic florals.  Plus doily knitting requires making joins in cotton, linen or silk which is not my forte.  I am a spit splice kinda girl.

the center pattern

I love how it looks like getting lost in a maze.  Admittedly a simple maze but still.  LOVE.  I will try to get better shots once it is dried** but for now-finit!

And I am knitting on two projects.  Generally speaking I am a monogamous knitter.  Despite my KA, or maybe because of it, I find that knitting on one project helps me actually finish stuff.  First there is the nothing else to distract me factor and secondly if I finish this then I can cast on or knit with insert long list of stuff on my to do pile.  This is not to imply I don’t enjoy the process of knitting whatever I am working on but in this case Kokkeluri is not exactly floating my boat.  There are the pattern problems mentioned in last post that are slowing me down and the yarn, despite being dreamy, is also ever so slightly splitty.  I blame the loosely plied nature and the tighter gauge that doesn’t give the yarn room to relax.  My beloved gray aero and the gray yarn also are blending into each other.  That might be due to my poor eyesight.  I am still on the first mitten.  I have pictures of that as well.  The pretty leaves:

Kokkeluri leaves

The flower looks like one of those trippy 60’s psychedelic pictures to me:

kapow!

I am unable to take the picture from the opposite angle but to me it looks like something you would see in the batman tv show: kapow, right in the kisser.  It makes me smile even tho I doubt I would punch anybody in the face and they will get that coming at them.  And boy does this baby need blocking.  Sorry for the uneven knitting.  Not sure what is going on with this.  Anyways I am almost finished with the first mitten body-minus thumb and icord edging at base- and am not really tied to the chart anymore but the chart requires some attention and I cast on a mindless sock Friday night to go along with TV watching:

projects in the works

I finished the first sock over the weekend.  It is your basic 3/1 rib all the way down to star toe.  I did get adventurous and try garter for my short rowed heel.  I believe Lucy Neatby said something about making the garter portion wider than half the stitches but I took that class oh 10 some years ago and don’t quite remember.  I did my usual half of sock stitches and I love how bloopy it is.  I mean it just juts out there looking all squishy.

The yarn is Ditto purchased at a long ago closed shop and I decided I don’t like it.  I purchased 3 colors of this yarn all at once since the shades are just lovely.  However the socks I knit for my husband always feel gritty to me and the yarn, as I was knitting it up, felt the same, despite my not recalling that thought while knitting his up.  So I was going ugh after about an inch and all ready to rip and donate the yarn when my kidlet says I like socks.  My socks turned into Tyler socks right quick.

Speaking of yarn I also noticed while knitting Stonington that I wasn’t loving the yarn.  Not sure what is up with that.  I recall loving my last Stonington and purposefully bought the same yarn to recreate it. I hope I am not getting all yarn picky because I have quite a stash and it would be a waste.

Probably all a short lived ennui due to knitting the most beauterrific socks ever.

OK yarny days and knitterly evenings~ Elka

** edited to add dried shawl picture at top of post.