Partial Points for Lacevember but a FO, too!

Once again, I've failed to complete a KAL within the time frame. C'est la vie. Considering that I didn't really start on my Lacevember shawl until about a week ago, and I lost a couple of days to headaches, I got a reasonable amount done. So - partial points. the pattern is called Dayflower Lace Shawl, from Hand Jive Knits. Their website isn't currently selling anything, and the picture on the pattern is very small. So you're going to have to take my knitting as the model.

This pattern is somewhat difficult, although I think a lot of my struggles have been due to painkiller haziness. The stitch count varies from row to row, and even though I've tried to be very careful to come out right at each horizontal repeat marker across, I've still been finding boo-boos that I have to fix in the next row. The yarn is Elann's Baby Silk in Cedar, worked double on size 10US needles. This is going to be a fabulous shawl, since the Baby Silk is soft and drapey and yet there's enough solid bits in the pattern to make it warm. The closeup gives a pretty good idea of the deep, foresty green color.

Enough said. Here's my progress as of last night. The pattern calls for a 4ft by 7ft rectangle, but I'm planning a 3ft by 5ft. The unblocked width seems to be pretty close, being 29in wide as you see it in the photo. The length is even closer, since the 7 repeats (out of 17 planned) I've finished come to 24in.


Rockport Vest

Months ago I finished a vest for DH, though it set for a few months longer while I wrestled with some finishing issues. He got the wearable version in mid-September, but it wasn't until last night that I got him to pose, on the promise "you won't put this on the blog." I agreed not to include the head shots, lol. The outfit is what he wore to work yesterday.

The pattern is Oat Couture's Rockport Vest, done in Elann's Highland Silk; I think the color is Antique Blue. While the pattern looks like a zillion cables, these are really only twist stitches, and after some fearsome math to deal with gauge issues, it went really quickly. This was my lesson that, when the pattern says to get gauge in stockinette, get gauge in stockinette, even if there's no plain stockinette in the pattern. Trust me on this one. I LOVE the Highland Silk, for the feel of the finished garment and of the yarn as you knit. DH has worn this maybe 4 times, and there's a little bit of extra fuzzing beginning to show, but it's not enough for me to even get out the sweater stone.

Plans for the weekend? Work on Dayflower and blocking and finishing the gifts, including the 'leventy-dozen ends in the kids' hats, plus a review of the gift stash to see if I'm missing anything. Time to be packing up those boxes.

PS - if anyone is still looking for a nice gift, there are two lap quilts still available, the darker green/pink in diagonal blocks and the peach. The entire cost goes to charity, remember.

Don't forget, you can click on the pictures to see a larger view.