the difference a day makes

Posted on Posted in Bare Naked Wools, designing, food and garden, lace/shawls

snowHyacinth04_03

hehe, well, it happens every year during the first week of april but still it surprises me.

snowPine04_03

it’s the same each year—just after the daffodils bloom we wake up one day to see everything draped in a layer of snow, sometimes lightly and sometimes—like today—quite heavily.

snowHydrangea04_03

in fact we had quite the winter storm last night—whorls of heavy snow buffeted about by strong winds that went on for hours. fortunately this morning the sky was mostly clear and the sun was shining, though it has stayed cold.

snowChard04_03

my little spinach and chard sprouts might just make it—they seemed ok when i checked. yesterday some of them had a second set of leaves already, so i’m hoping they are the hardy type. just in case though, i sprinkled a few more seeds on top of the snow as insurance.

with the snow and cold outside, it’s been a good weekend to stay inside and knit. i got quite caught up on my new shawl.

blueShawlFlatA04_03

by friday night i had reknit all the yarn i ripped out the morning before and had successfully navigated about half of my new charts with little or no corrections (air punch!). it’s a good sign that i had to change to a longer needle yesterday morning in order to move on—the shawl is getting bigger.

blueShawlLatestA04_03

last night i got through the rest of those charts and am now ready for fresh material.

blueShawlLatest04_03

now that i have a nice chorus line of leaves dancing across the shawl, it’s time to add some blossoms. i worked on the next part late this afternoon so i am all set to get back to knitting when we settle in for some TV watching later on (first though, we are going on a movie date, yay).

cheviSleeve04_01

for sweater progress, i had finished the lace portion of my sleeve on friday night as well and had just started the stockinette part. on saturday morning, i knit away on that while overseeing our wheaten wrap class at the shop and by the time it was over, i had a few new inches to show for myself.

after class, i came back to the house and set myself up in a comfy chair on the top floor to knit the afternoon and evening away.

cheviSleeveBlocked04_03

by mid afternoon i had the sleeve done and pinned it out for steam blocking; i thought it was important to set the shape and size of that lace with steam before wet blocking anything.

cheviLaceBlocked04_03

now you can get a much better idea of what that lace will look like—i love it. it will be repeated around the sweater hem and on the back above the waist. what do you think barb?

from finishing and blocking this piece, i have a much better idea of how to handle the gauge differential between the lace portion and the stockinette portion, which is considerable—a difference of about twenty-five percent.

cheviLaceUnblocked04_03

i made some very slight adjustments to my pattern and after i had knit my shawl as far as i could last night, i cast on the second sleeve and knit the hem ribbing. this morning i got up and set to work on that, hoping i might get halfway by noon. but it didn’t turn out that way . . .

cheviSleeveUnblocked04_03

instead i was to the underarm bind off by then and well, i couldn’t stop there; i had to keep going. it was OTN by about 2 pm and i couldn’t be happier with that speed. i didn’t block the second sleeve yet because i really needed to get back to my lace charts so i have something to work on tonight, haha.

chevi2Sleeves04_03

aren’t they a funny pair? you’d hardly know they were related.

BBFstockinetteUnblocked04_03

i know, i know—i’m always running on and on about blocking and how awesome it is, but well, it IS!! just look at these two stockinette photos.

BBFstockinetteBlocked04_03

sure that top one looks “fine”, but seriously, which one would you rather wear? which one would make your bod look sleeker?

with my work lined up for later tonight, i think i’ll hit the shower and get gussied up for our date—so excited. i’ll be back in a couple of days with hopefully more progress; see you then!

7 thoughts on “the difference a day makes

  1. You have definitely convinced me of the virtues of blocking…I love the sleeves so far.

    The snow is impressive…we’re in Glendale this wekend in 70 degree temps, but that doesn’t mean we might not have one more winter storm at home!

  2. I for one never tire of the blocking pictures. They inspire me to never skip that step!

  3. Mostly bitter cold and wind here on the coast of Maine. But I’m actually fine with getting the wood stove going again and digging out my heavier woolly sweaters! I’m a cold weather girl at heart.

    Love the looks of the new sweater!

  4. The sweater is exactly like I envisioned it. I so like the lace design better than the other. What a difference after blocking. My flowers are droopy, what happened to spring? Better get back to knitting since there are going to be several must knits coming.

  5. Ah…memories of Ohio! Was born and raised there – my mom still lives there and was none too happy to see the snow. :-/

    The chevron lace is beautiful!

  6. Those blocking photos are great – what more could you need to show you how important it is?! Hope the cold weather hasn’t caused too much damage in the garden.

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