Supervisor Turned Supermodel...

In her first modeling debut, Miss Natty takes the stage with a lace shawl knit from the label of Trekking XXL.

As a recap, it is a pattern from IK Spring Issue, and it is the Clementine Shawlette. My blocking is tighter than theirs, and the Trekking is less snuggle-like, but it blocks well, and really shows off the lace pattern.

Here you can see the drape and length of the shawl.

As you can see, the model is very weary of the

photo session, and ready for a well-deserved nap.

She was very patient to let me pose her and try the shawl on her in different ways while I took different pictures.

Although I hate to push my luck, I wonder how she feels about socks???

Tahdahhh!!!! Clementine is off the Needles and in the Bath!

I will keep this short and sweet - the shawl is completely knitted, ends worked in, and Clementine is in the bath. I will block her this evening, and hopefully she can be dry by tomorrow evening so I can take her to Knit Night. DM gave me the idea to fold the shawl in half for a manageable blocking length. The blocked pictures will be next time - wish me luck as this is my first lace blocking attempt!



After the blocking, off to scrub out that sink!!!

Does Time Move This Quickly for Those Who Don't Knit???

My shawl progress is coming along, but not as quickly as I would like though... Don't get too excited, the first half isn't blocked, it is just pinned for the photo. Natty, of course, had to check that I had pinned the piece correctly...

This is a sort of close up of the lace work, but again, the yarn is not this pink. It is much more dusty purple and navy blue, with just a hint of pink here and there.

There are a minimum of two, and possibly three projects impatiently waiting in the wings.

Firstly, I have a friend with a birthday early in August (thankfully she is not a blog reader), and I am knitting her a pair of socks. They will probably be in the Pennlyn pattern from Wildhorse Farm Designs, and knit with Claudia Hand Painted Yarns in the Grape Jelly colorway. My friend is a self-proclaimed "lover of ALL things purple", and this should fit the bill. The photo does not do the yarn justice at all. It appears almost fuschia in the photo, and in real life it is almost a solid grape jelly purple with a hint of lighter purple here and there that is not quite lavender. As this colorway is already screaming hot, I will probably add beads at the cuff to finish the electric look.

Next, I want to knit at least one, and two if possible, Christmas stockings for my two nieces. I am using the Holly pattern from Annie's Woolens. I have knit a ton of socks, but never a Christmas stocking, and I have no idea how long this will take - that is where the concern for knitting one or two before Christmas comes into play. If all else fails, the eldest niece will get hers first, and the youngest the following year.

Initially, I had ordered some Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks for the stockings, but I just couldn't feel the love for that yarn. The colors were off, and it just did not feel like anything that the kiddos would keep and treasure all of their lives, as I hope they will with the new yarn. With that being said, it's not my fault that I had to go out and forage for more yarn yesterday... There might have been one, two, or possibly six (ahem, but who's counting) skeins of sock yarn that followed me home this weekend in addition to the new yarn for the stockings.

The sock yarn is Claudia, and from top to bottom the colors are: John B., Butter Pecan, and Jungle. To the right is the yarn for the stockings that I got this weekend. The hunter's green and ivory are from Galway, and the bottom wound hank is Cascade 220 in The Heathers line. Per the Yarn Shop and More, Galway and Cascade 220 are "the exact same yarn". The Yarn Shop and More even claims that they are made in the same factory. I have never heard this, but there a ton of things that I have not heard...