Lady Cornwall Finished

Well I just finished my Lady Cornwall. And I just discovered (the hard way) that apparently my mystery yarn was wool. I didn’t even know I had any wool in the house! I threw the shrug in the washing machine so it would be clean before I steam blocked it (what you do with acrylic); but I noticed when I went to switch my clothes to the dryer, that it had slightly felted. Bummer! Needless to say it is now drying on top of the dryer instead of inside it.

Still looks great, though. Still it’s good that I had already planned to make another one because I don’t think this one will stay in my house very long being hand-wash only.

Notes for next time: Continue YO increases all the way down the front; pair with double decreases for the last half to keep the same shape.

Texas Tree Skirt

So, I’ve finally finished knitting all the wedges for my husband’s Christmas tree skirt. Working on blocking all the pieces today.

Why do I bother blocking? Is it really worth all the work? I did use acrylic yarn after all. Well, take a look at this “before and after” picture. This is two wedges of the same design one before blocking and one after.

Quite the difference, huh? I hope to get all the pieces steamed and seamed today. Then all I have to do is knit the inside and outside borders.

In case your wondering, I’m blocking these pieces on an exercise mat. I picked it up from Wal-Mart this morning. It’s this one here. I will eventually get a grid marked on it to make blocking easier. I already checked and Sharpie won’t rub off even when vigorously steamed.

How many stitches…

…will fit on a 14” knitting needle?
Well, for me, in worsted weight yarn, the answer is about 195. Yep, that’s all 195 stitches of the last row of my Lady Cornwall all on one needle.

Now I have the wonderful task of switching to a circular needle and knitting all the ribbing around this thing. Yay, me! I hope to have this finished by Monday evening. Hopefully I can find somewhere to block it where the kids will leave it alone.

Finally, an update

Well, it’s been a while. I thought I’d stop by and show you what I’m working on. This is a Christmas tree skirt I am working on for my husband (he’s from Texas, obviously).

I’ve also been doing some hand knitting.
That’s a Lady Cornwall on my needles believe-it-or-not. I hope to have both the tree skirt and the shrug finished by Sunday. I think it’s do-able.
More pictures when I’m done…

Yes, I’m still here

Goodness, I just looked and it turns out my last post was in July of last year. Sorry to be so negligent. I’ve been really busy lately: going to school full time, taking care of 5 kids, and working. There’s been lot’s of knitting too, just not much time to take pictures and post about it. I hope to be able to update the blog soon on all my projects.