life with a chronic disease and a really big yarn stash
FO: Edith’s Secret done at last!
I have been knitting all week on my Edith’s Secret shawl by Kristin Ashbaugh-Helmreich. Finally, at 2am on Wednesday night (I’m the Midnight Knitter, remember…) I was approaching the end of the bind-off when I paused to look back at all of my fabulous knitting and saw <gasp!> a double picot where there should only be one. NNNOOOOOOO!!! That was that. I stuffed Edith into her project bag and went to bed.
Once again my cat MacKenzie closely supervised all of my work. Here he is on the wet shawl while I was blocking it. I had to cover it with a towel overnight to keep it safe: MacKenzie slept on the towel on the floor all night.
Yesterday in the sunshine I frogged back through the binding, reknitted it with the correct number of picots (one at the tip of each leaf detail in the final lace section) and cut the yarn at last. Blocking happened overnight (with my cat MacKenzie sleeping on top of the towel-covered shawl all night…) and here Edith is in all her glory.
Edith on the arms of my usual shawl model: the ash tree. The tree is starting to develop leaf buds so I will have to leave it alone soon. These models are so fussy…Here’s a close-up of the lace sections with the beads. My hands got a little sore pulling all the beads onto the yarn with the crochet hook, but the final effect is nice. See the little picot detail at the tip of the leaves? I messed up by putting two on one leaf. Here she is on a chair which shows the drape a little better then the tree did. A little dark, but you get the idea. 🙂
Here’s my project notes on Ravelry in case you would like more details.
I am so glad that Edith is done, but now I am in a slump for sure. I even did my taxes today as I wasn’t quite sure what project to start knitting next.
This is my cat Morgan helping me get my income tax filing in order. He’s not really into knitting supervision, but put a piece of paper on a table, boot up the computer, and there he is. I hope that my tax lady likes cat fur…
I’ve placed the likely yarn candidates on the dining room table, and each time I head upstairs I kind of pat different skeins of yarn and consider the projects that they might be used for. So hard to make these decisions… Such beautiful color, and half of the skeins contain cashmere and silk too. I may have to start several projects all at once.
Look at this! This yarn wants to become art: it even says so on the label. What should happen to it? Socks, mitts, little shawl? I’m tending towards the shawl (garter stitch, picots, eyelets, but no other lace.) Maybe a little Hitchhiker? Help!
I weave, knit and read in Aurora, Colorado where my garden lives. I have 2 sons, a knitting daughter-in-law, a grandson and two exceptionally spoiled kittens. In 2014 I was diagnosed with a serious rare autoimmune disease called systemic sclerosis along with Sjogren's Disease and fibromyalgia.
View all posts by Midnight Knitter
Love MacKenzie btw. That is a Feline Overlord who takes the job seriously. Morgan sounds like he lets you get away with stuff. Tsk Tsk.
Edith is lovely! You did a wonderful job and you did it so fast too. You’ll have your next knit thingy picked out and on the needles in no time at all so enjoy the break.
I cast on two more shawls while MacKenzie was taking a nap. He Is definitely the Overlord type. Morgan is MacKenzie’s pet, and just specializes in being cute and food acquisition.
Thanks. I went to Ravelry and looked at all the shawls other knitters has made, and decided that I liked the pattern best with contrast. Other knitters at my LYS helped me find a good match to the purple. It’s nice to be part of a knitting community.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Wow! Gorgeous!
Thanks! She was a lot of headaches, but turned out nicely. 🙂
Love MacKenzie btw. That is a Feline Overlord who takes the job seriously. Morgan sounds like he lets you get away with stuff. Tsk Tsk.
Edith is lovely! You did a wonderful job and you did it so fast too. You’ll have your next knit thingy picked out and on the needles in no time at all so enjoy the break.
I cast on two more shawls while MacKenzie was taking a nap. He Is definitely the Overlord type. Morgan is MacKenzie’s pet, and just specializes in being cute and food acquisition.
Shawl, definitely.
Yeah! I just cast and and started knitting 3S by Amy Meade, which is a simple garter stitch shawl with long tails.
Lovely shawl – I really like the contrast between the purple and grey
Thanks. I went to Ravelry and looked at all the shawls other knitters has made, and decided that I liked the pattern best with contrast. Other knitters at my LYS helped me find a good match to the purple. It’s nice to be part of a knitting community.