well, i’m on my way to finishing. i’ve got about 25% of the hem edging done and so far i’m happy with how it looks. i like doing edging . . . in the same way i like blocking and sewing sweater seams. there is great satisfaction for me in the finishing work of any knit project.
i am a bit nervous however about my yarn supply. i know, i know—i had plenty of yarn to start with; way more than i needed to knit the actual shawl.
but, er, i did go a little swatch-happy, using enough yarn to make a small shoulder shawl, and now i might run short. i just may have to plunder and pillage among the swatches to finish.
this is what i have left
we’ll see . . . .
i’m sure i can think of something.
meanwhile the test knitters are wailing on their shawls too . . . vanessa has half a melanzana stole done almost and i’ve got photos from another tester who is knitting it with the yarn catherine sent
this is the same knitting notions classic merino lace yarn in colorway thyme. i love how it is the exact color of eggplant leaves . . .
(my eggplants-in-a-pot— i didn’t have any garden space for them so i put them in with the pansies.) kind of a soft, fuzzy, tonal sage-y green. i’m using the pear colorway for the faroese version.
the test knitters are all lovin’ the stitches in this piece, yay. jocelyn emails me frequently to express her extreme affection for it (and who doesn’t love hearing from jocelyn?). i’m always relieved when other people find a project fun; i don’t trust my own barometer of such things to read well for everyone, but this time it’s accurate.
i have a couple of announcements about things friends are doing.
deb kessler at fearless fibers just opened signups for her fall 2008 sock club . . . and we all know how gorgeous her yarns are. she expanded the number of spots this time to make room for everyone, and each installment is a different type of her growing selection of sock yarns.
and then the other day i was emailing with tonia, who is a frequent and generous commentor here. well it turns out that tonia is a dyer too (which i didn’t know), and, she just opened an online shop, knitted to a T, featuring her own dyed yarns and rovings (the selection is vast). way to go tonia!
she is having a grand opening sale so if you scurry over there you can catch it (and there are prizes, too). in addition, tonia will have an outside booth at the wool gathering in yellow springs, OH, in september (my spinning class is SO going to it).
i finished david’s pink sock (in knitting notions classic merino bamboo) last night and he put it on
it was too dark to take photos, but it fits great, and he smiled his approval.
i cast on for the second one but we’ll see how quickly it goes . . . i have a few small secret projects i have to complete in the next couple weeks so i may only work on the pink sock intermittently. you never know though—it might just be perfect for traveling or something . . .
what’s happening in the garden? we-ell, remember those seeds i planted on saturday to fill some gaps in the asparagus bed?
the rapini has achieved lift-off captain!
is that not fast?? i’m telling you, if you want to grow something just to see if you can, then rapini (broccoli rabe) is your seed of choice. it is completely gratifying and it seems as if every single seed germinated again. this time i sowed them further apart; last time i wasn’t sure and sowed more heavily and they just grew in too thick. it made for a whole day of work just to thin them.
i looked more closely at the other patches i planted and found
a few beets as well. wow—now this is thrilling.
even the chard is starting to unfold from its bed of dirt, but honestly, the sprouts are so slender and sparse today that they didn’t photograph well. and i saw some zen green sprouts too.
gotta keep these guys moist now . . . and we are so desperate for rain. it is dry as a bone here for several weeks now (we had that hail storm, but hardly any rain with it). every day it threatens to rain and then it doesn’t. and watering only goes so far—it feels too dry out there.
speaking of hot and dry, i may be disappearing for a few days. a very good friend is flying to austin to visit family—in a small-engine aircraft—and asked me to tag along so i could visit my family.
oh boy—ye-es. do i ever want to do that!
this will be a dream come true . . . to fly over what— a third of the nation, at least—in a small plane. wow.
i’m so excited i can hardly stand it and i’m scurrying around trying to pull loose ends together to leave thursday morning. so i might not post for the next few days . . . we’ll see. things at the hanson ranch are often chaotic (can you say seven kids!), and not conducive to blogging. but then again, it could be all cool; you never know.
ok, that’s it for now . . . i’ve been testing wool soaps in an effort to find a good substitute for my favorite meadows wool wash (no longer available, sadly), and i have a report i want to post about when i get back.
32 thoughts on “edging toward completion”
Ooh, I’m jealous, flying across country in a small plane is fabulous. Do take earplugs, some small planes are very noisy. But the views should be amazing. I hope you have great weather. And tip your wing to New Orleans as you go by!
Anxiously looking forward to the melanzana shawl pattern. Now I know what to do with my tidepool heather that i frogged because I wasn’t having any fun doing the Ene’s scarf pattern. I like to died of boredom. And I usually like estonian patterns, especially ones without tuns of nubs.
As always, you have me sitting on the edge of my seat. I can hardly wait to see the finished shawl.
I love the sock, it looks wonderful! I can’t wait to see the finished shawl, it looks like such a fun knit.
That trip sounds wonderful! I can’t wait to hear all about it — take lots of pictures from the airplane windows so we can live vicariously, ‘k? David’s second socks seems like a perfect project (and I can see why he approved; the first one is lovely!). I’m glad you don’t mind my endless emails 😉
I love that pink sock, I am jealous of David!!!!!! And the lace looks exquisite! 🙂
You make me want to start a garden. First up would be the broccoli rabe. Very cool.
Anne, have a good time, take lots of pics and forget about work. OK? OK. Just tell your family hello from all of us.
The edging, yes well–WOW 😉 The pink sock, much love for it–I’d 🙂 too!
Ohhh, that trip sounds like fun! You definitely have to show us pictures. 😀
And I actually did *not* need a link to a store with lots of pretty fibers and yarns, thank you very much. *dramatic sigh* 😉
I seriously cannot wait until this shawl is done. It looks so great and I really want to knit it. (Your test knitters sure have a sweet gig, eh?) I bought your bee fields shawl as soon as it came out, nearly–but it took me until now to feel up to knitting it (more than half done.) Just in time for a new one!
You SERIOUSLY like doing seams and blocking. GASP
You are my knitting hero now. For real. You think if I keep reading your blog it will rub on me?
I love the pink sock! It’s such a subtle pattern. I wonder how it’d look in a varigate…
I am on pins and needles about this shawl…..I can’t stand it!!! I’m happy for your wonderful garden, too!!! 🙂 Safe trip over Texas.
I’m glad it’s you and not me. I can’t do those toy airplanes; I get deathly ill. It sounds like fun, however. Be safe and have a good time.
i’m really liking that variagated green. that plane ride sounds like a blast, have fun!
I wish I could send you some of the rain we’ve been getting lately… pretty much every day for the last week or so… We’d gladly take a bit of your dryness over here!
Have a great trip, enjoy both the travel and the visit with your family!
Oh Anne:
You are so sweet, and so dear. But I am going through A Phase, and every time you mention eggplant I taste all the slimy, poorly cooked eggplant I’ve had in the past year.
BLECH!!!
Virginia, who’ll be wishing hellos to you from Houston
Have a safe and wonderful trip to Austin!! We are looking forward to going in October to see our son who lives there…LOVE that great city!!
i can’t believe how fast your shawl has come along, it seems like you just started it – either that or i’m really losing time! i can’t wait to see the blocked version.
have fun on your trip!
Your projects are really beautiful and I’m enjoying seeing them progress. It’s dry here, too. If I don’t water tomorrow, I’ll lose my squash and pepper plants. Have fun on your trip!
Have a wonderful flight and a great visit with your family. Happy knitting, too! We’ll all anticipate everything we just know you’ll have to show us.
Austin…in August…how many of the years we lived there did I spend wishing for October?!? Oh well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy family. I recently made a trip to Illinois in dh’s small plane…got lots of knitting done since I don’t care for small planes and didn’t want to look around! Have a great time!!
Flying to Austin in a small plane sounds like a fun adventure!! You go grrl!!! Have fun!
Hopin gyou will have a grat time with your family !
And such an exciting trip !
How could David not smile when trying on his sock ?…it’s georgeous !
Anne- You’re having a dry spell, and we are positively drowning in record rainfalls here. Haven’t watered the grass once.
The shawl is lovely- have a terrific time in Texas.
someday maybe I’ll be able to fit one of these sock/yarn/fiber clubs into my budget! What fun to get a package each month!
I’m so excited to see the finished shawl! The swatches had me drooling, but now…wow. Beautiful! Of course all the plant pictures just adds to the fun. I’m a horticulture educator, so combine knitting and gardening into one blog, and I’m in blogging heaven. 🙂
I’ll be in Texas for two days next week pity we won’t be in the same part (I’ll be in Houston trying to sort out housing and schools and whatnot in approximately 48 hours I think. ha ha ha ha ha)
Love the pink socks – nice tectured pattern. The shawl is looking good especially with the edging. I did my first edging on my Pi shawl yesterday & it took the whole day to get it right & now I am happy with it.
I think we’ve gotten all your rain up here. It’s rained every single day for the past 2 weeks. Summer indeed.
I’m late in reading your blog, so you’ve probably had your fun flight by now. Hope it was marvelous, and that you’re having fun.
I love that shawl! That is going to be a must have. I’m almost done with my socks so it shouldn’t be long and I can send you what yarn I have left.
Be safe on your trip!!!
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