Finished!

It is a charm of shawls, I'm finding, that everyone would like one. Well, at my house, anyway. We were very concerned that this shawl would not be big enough. It looked very, very little when I was done knitting it, so small that my oldest daughter claimed it perfect for herself, before the baby decided it would be hers.


Then I proceeded with the blocking. I strung dental floss through the straight sides and, in this shawl's case, the neck. Well, I didn't, myself. I showed the oldest girl (so very, very hopeful she would get this shawl, poor thing) how, and set her to work on it.




Then we pulled all the dental floss straight, and it straightened out the edges of the shawl pretty nicely. See how it stretches out all of the loops around the neckline? If I'd had some nails to drive into the carpet, I could have wound that floss around them and really gotten a straight edge on the sides! As it is, I thought the floss was extremely helpful, and reduced the pinning by a lot. Then I pulled down and pinned the pretty scallops and turned on the fan! I really wanted to wear it to a family get-together tonight, as it would have made me feel good. But, alas, it will not dry in time. Still, so much for it being too small! The pattern said it would be 22 inches long by 60 inches wide, and I ended up with 26 1/2 by 70 inches! And I think I could have blocked it a good deal harder than I did. This isn't the final picture of the blocking. I straightened some little details out. But I have to say that, all in all, shawl knitting is the best knitting time I've had, umm, EVER.


I feel like I snuck in the back door of a riotous party, where everyone is having a great time, just laughing and feeling so darned good just to be there. And here I'd been walking by this building every day, thinking it was some ordinary business, having no idea how much fun was going on inside. And that's how I feel about shawl knitting. There's been a party going on near me all this time, and I didn't know about it. Even if I never thought I was a person to wear shawls, making them is the bees' knees. (And I am so wearing this shawl, EVERYWHERE) Even as I was doing the pretty neat picot bind-off, and ran out of yarn eight inches or so from the edge. Even then, it was fun. (I had more yarn. That helps) I'll show pictures of small hopeful people modeling the shawl, once it's dry. By the by, the middle child didn't ask for this shawl. She said she is waiting for the Dragone one to be done. Smart girl. =)