Today's Lesson

Apparently my new favorite color is 'out of stock' with 'unavailable' being a close second.

::sigh::

ETA: how could I forget the also popular 'discontinued'?

FO Report - Leaf Lace Shawl

the oh-so-flattering back view

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Fiber Trends

Yarn: Lisa Souza Baby Alpaca Lace

Colorway: Olive Tones

Started: November 2007

Finished: January 2008

Measurements (unblocked/blocked)

Top edge: 58 inches / 74 inches

Center (top to bottom): 26 / 38.5 inches

Side (one side of "V"): 34 / 54.5 inches

Needles: Knit Picks circular 2.75 mm

Project Summary

I originally started this project in July 2007, but I wasn't happy with how it was progressing so I ripped it out and restarted in in November 2007.

Progress as of 11/21/07

The initial appearance of the shawl was, as Mrs. G pointed out, not unlike that of a stingray.

Note: Provided for comparison purposes only.
This is not an actual shawl image
(image from Google images)

As the shawl progressed and the stitch count grew (this shawl pattern starts from the bottom point) it was difficult to determine that any progress was being made since the total size of the shawl never seemed to change. I started placing a pin to mark my progress at the end of each week.

Some weeks showed more progress than others.
The closely spaced pins represent the hectic weeks of mid-December

The Leaf Lace Shawl has an easy and easily memorized lace pattern and a good choice, I think, for a first time lace knitter. Unfortunately, my choice of a fairly fine yarn and small needles meant nearly 10 additional chart repeats in order to get the size I wanted.

By the time I reached 622 stitches on the needle, knitting ennui threatened to derail the project since each row was taking about 40 minutes to complete. I originally planned to make the shawl larger but made the decision to end at 27 chart repeats.

The lunar landscape of the unblocked shawl

Needle Liberation Day - January 22, 2008

Unblocked shawl

Blocking
(an excellent use for that newly spare bedroom)

Blocking closeup

The pattern calls for beading on the final row. I wanted some additional sparkle so I worked in extra beads in the lace edging.

Finished!

Mr. CPA took several 'FO' photos that actually show me smiling, but as luck would have it those shots did not turn out for one reason or another (as judged by me). So the official FO shot is the one of me looking mildly amused. (a totaly fortuitous shot that managed to slip in between the usual photos of me in mid-sentance, with a goofy closed-eye smile or enhanced with blurry arm movements).

March 1 – Caterpillar Day

"Life depends on a silken thread" - club motto

Mr. CPA and I aren’t exactly what you would call ‘joiners’. We’re a bit quirky and non-conforming and we like it that way.

However we are thrilled that 26 years ago today, Mr. CPA became a member of an exclusive club in which almost no one actively seeks membership. The Caterpillar Club.

There are no dues or meetings and the club is fairly small because only about 10 people per year qualify for membership.

The rule for membership is so simple that it is contained in a single sentence:
Members of the club must have saved their lives by using a parachute to jump out of a disabled aircraft.

Now Mr. CPA might point out that he did not jump so much as he was forcefully flung out by the centrifugal force of the plane’s inverted spin after he popped the canopy immediately following impact, but this, dear reader, is a technicality of a very minor sort.

The headline from the front page of the Pensacola Journal

The distressingly meager remains of the two planes



The rip cord that opened the best parachute ever

As it turns out, Mr. CPA had not personally checked his parachute before leaving because things had been a bit rushed getting ready for the training flight. He thought about it as he and the instructor hurried out to the plane but told himself, "I'm not going to need it."


To show his gratitude to the diligent workers who had obviously both packed the chute well and checked it correctly, Mr. CPA (in his then capacity of Mr. Marine Corp 2nd Lt.) bought a case of beer for each of the parachute packers on duty that day. Because when you're a young guy in your early twenties on military pay, a case of beer is a lot of gratitude.


But really? It wasn't enough.

* Caterpillar club image used with permission by Wikipedia

(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CaterpillarClubPin.jpg)

My latest FO

I know my updates have been pretty intermittent lately but I've been busy behind the scenes - honest.

My latest finished project isn't exactly knitting but it is knitting-related, in fact it's Seriously Unravelled.

The leaf lace shawl did finally see Needle Liberation Day and had a lovely debut at Madrona Fiber Arts. (photographic evidence and project notes soon).

Out of the loop

My friend Nancy stopped by my cubicle at work last week to chat about knitting. Before she left she leaned in a bit and whispered that she was planning to go buy some new yarn over the weekend.

"I don't know why I'm whispering about buying yarn." Nancy said as she realized what she was doing, "I guess I don't want my budget to know about it."

Pictorial Progress Report - Part Two

Wherein Denise remembers that she has a knitting blog.

This looks more promising, doesn’t it?

Thanks to a gentle nudge from Sheila and Noami, I realized it was way past time to post a quick update on my progress with the Leaf Lace shawl.

Here’s where I’m at right now:

a little less than half left to go…

Okay, back to binding off!

Pictorial Progress Report

Can you tell how it's going? (Hint: It's a center-pull ball)

Actual Knitting Content - Leaf Lace Shawl Edition

Remember the Leaf Lace shawl I restarted back in July?

(Yeah, I know you're probably thinking, "Wait, she knits? When did this start?)

Leaf Lace Shawl - ripped and restarted

I finally started working on it again the first weekend in November. Here's my progress from before Thanksgiving:

Growing, but oh so slowly!

The last crazy night

Yes, it's posted late - please pretend the date on this reads '12-11-07'. I made the mistake of sitting down last night and promptly fell asleep in the chair without posting as I'd intended.

Hey, Annie, I ate a latke just for you (or possibly ::cough, cough:: three).

Latkes + full-fat sour cream = perhaps an extra run this week

We had a minor issue in estimating how many potatoes would be required. This is post-latke production:

The results of asking one's offspring to 'grate some potatoes'
while one completes the scheduled evening exercise ritual.

Apparently my children thought I would be rounding up a few 20 or so extra people for dinner while I was out...

And the winners are...

Numbers ready for the drawing

Winner #1
Cindy from Snid Knits.


Winner #2
Mrs. G. from Derfwad Manor

Picking numbers was so much fun that I decided to have a bonus round selection and a third number was pulled from the basket o’paper slips.

Winner #3
Mysti from A Pagan’s Desire of Simplicity
(Mysti, I don’t have your email address can you drop me a line at Denise AT YinAndYarn DOT com?)

This was fun! Thanks so much for all the great comments.

I have to say I didn’t realize I’d gotten so many comments until today. It seems Blogger failed to forward a number of comments to my email like it is supposed to. So apologies if you haven’t heard from me. I was out of town all of last week for work-related training and I’m still catching up on things here back at Casa del Chaos.

*All number selections witnessed and verified by the ultra-strict auditing powers of Mr. CPA.