At Least You HAVE a Chart!

I have to admit something. I’m having a blog writing block. I’m nervous just at the thought of updating. Why? I have no idea. But, I shall ignore the anxiety, and just do it.

So, on to actual content. Such as a current picture of my office at home.

Yes, I’m a slob. But this time, its for a good reason! I want to direct your attention to a cool web site - LibraryThing. It’s a service that allows you to catalog all your books online. You can either add books to your library by searching a variety of databases, or by manually adding them. I couldn’t find a number of my pattern leaflets in any databases, so I manually added them. And then threw them on the floor.

Best of all, you can flash your book collection to everyone on the Internets. For example, go here to see what I’ve cataloged so far. Also, there is a cool little javascript you can stick on your blog to show a random five books from your library - if you scroll down, you can see mine. Plus, you can see other folks who have the same books as you.

So far, I’ve cataloged all the books in my office. That includes all my knitting books, and anything else random hanging out in there. Next, I think I’ll do the books in the second bedroom. Most of those are Kevin’s, though.

The service is free for the first 200 books, and then 10 dollars for a lifetime paid account after that.

Now, on to actual knitting!

I know what you are thinking - wait, that’s not the sweater from the cover of Vogue Knitting! That crafty Gail switched projects on us!

Believe me, I had good reason. I’m going on a trip with Kevin at the beginning of November. It’s a surprise trip - I have no idea where we are going. Anyway, I’m bringing the fancy dress I wore to Aimee’s wedding. Which is strapless. I need a shawl.

So, last week I was with Lynette at Loopy Yarns, and spied a hank of Helen’s Lace in navy. Which is perfect for my dress. I seized it, bought it, and took it home. After digging through my patterns, I decided to make Shirley Paden’s shawl from Vogue Knitting Fall 2005. Only without the border, because I have less than a month to knit the thing.

I ran into some immediate problems. One, the pattern does not include a chart. Yes, all 36 rows of the center lace panel are written out. This was clearly an attempt to drive me insane. I quickly figured out, after completely ripping twice, that it’d be impossible to knit this shawl without a chart. Well, impossible for me.

So, I created a chart in Excel. I’d post it, but I’m not sure its really allowed - can you post a chart created based on a stitch pattern repeat?

Having made my chart, I cast on again, with size 5 needles. The pattern called for 6, but I’ve been knitting loosely lately. I quickly figured out (well, okay, half way through the first repeat) that it was going to be far, far too loose. See, the original pattern was done in a mohair yarn, so the fuzz fills in all the holes. I’m using Helen’s Lace, which is 50% wool and 50% silk. There is no fuzz. If I had, oh, swatched, that would have been obvious.

So, I ripped again. And cast on with size 3 needles. Honestly, I could probably go down to size 2, but I’m not starting over again. And I think after blocking, it’ll be lovely. Other changes I made was to add two editional selvedge stitches to make a bit of a border, and I took out two of the repeats to make the shawl more stole like. I’ve made more progress than the picture shows - its from Monday. Yes, I’m slow on the updating.