Other nifty new knits

First off, I haven't mentioned yet that I'm now officially a prize-winning knitter. A Wonderful Wallaby baby sweater I knitted for my cousin's little son and the shawl below both won first place ribbons at the Prince William County (Virginia) Fair! I need to take a photo of the sweater before I give it to my cousin.

The shawl is Great Cosmos, a pattern from Moonrise Lace Knitting. I bought the kit at Stitches East in 2005. The yarn is Zephyr Wool-Silk laceweight in Lilac. The shawl was knitted from the center out to the end of the eyelet moon section, then the wide border was knitted on. The whole thing was done on a size 5 Addi Turbo circular. The shawl is actually more than a square. When folded, it has a bit of a butterfly wing shape, which keeps it on the shoulders. It was a fun knit, not particularly challenging to me, but time-consuming. All....that....border.... The end product, though....lovely. I wear it a lot.

I spent much of Labor Day weekend blocking stuff. My parents have an enormous deck, so I took my puzzle-piece blocking boards with me and took advantage of the space. First, I blocked this lovely:

This is the Dayflower Daydream from the Knitter's Book of Shawls and Scarves, knitted in Lacey Lamb on a size 3 Addi Turbo circular. The color looks mottled in the photos because the yarn is soaking wet in spots. I pinned this out without wires because of the scalloped edge, and it was already dry by the time I finished, so I had to dump water on it and smoosh it in to re-wet the thing. It's actually a gorgeous shade of coral, and the yarn is incredibly soft. I added an extra repeat of the main body, so I had to buy a third ball of yarn to finish the border (that was an adventure in itself, because at the time nobody local carried it. Suddenly, one store did and ordered it for me). Again, with the insane knitted-on border, this time in the same pattern as the body. I will try to get a photo of it dry and on me to show off the color.

Next is a not-too-exciting scarf. Blue Sky Alpacas alpaca/silk, charcoal grey, in their free Opera Scarf pattern. I finished this ages ago but hadn't blocked it. It's nearly Isadora Duncan-worthy, yet the pattern called for another skein of yarn and three more feet of length! The little intruder at the right is MacDuff (Duffy), my dog-brother, the world's cutest Westie.

And then there are my finished Rockin' Sock Club June socks--Solstice Slip in Firebird.
This is what the fifteenth bucket of rinse water looked like when I was preparing to block a shawl made from Zephyr Wool-Silk laceweight in Emerald. Yes, fifteen washes, and it never did stop bleeding. I'm a little afraid to wear the darned thing. It was a lot more Emerald when I started. Now, it's more like Grass. We are not pleased.

The shawl in question is Emerald Isle, from Goddess Knits. It was an enjoyable knit, completed on straight bamboo needles in size 5. My Knit Picks chart holder came in very handy! I did use wires on this one, because it needed a nice, straight top edge and needed a lot of tension on the points to pull them out stiffly.

I leave you with another cute dog photo. Duffy again, still trying to be helpful or, more likely, wondering if maybe somewhere there's a bug to chase around the deck.