Last night I practically RAN away from the computer at the end of my work day. My brain felt like it had a fist squeezing it, for sure. I just wanted to get my hands on my knitting and finish my spades shawl. I had gotten quite far along on it this week.
This is where I was at the end of Wednesday and I sorely wished I could get through the shawl tip by the end of Thursday. I’d then still have the top edging to take care of which could amount to a couple of nights work, especially since I have not completely decided on what that finish ought to be . . .
I’ve been listening to The Night Watch read by Juanita McMahon, who has a deeply throaty, slow way of reading that I find perfectly dreamy. I’d love to hear her read W.G. Sebald . . . The book is intriguingly worked backwards so the time-space continuum is suspended and I rely on the characters more than the history to get the story.
Listening to it is a drastic change-up from my work environment this week and the perfect companion for getting into a knitting trance. By 9 pm, I was ensconced in my chair and working away. I thought I could finish the Casino Shawl, but I didn’t. So, you get soft, juicy, knit porn instead of FO.
I know I’ve been waxing on and on about this project and how delightful the yarn is and how much I love working on it. When I went to take progress pictures early this morning, the light was still a bit grey and I couldn’t stop. I was treating the shawl as if it were a live model! Here is it sprawled out in all its glory on the fur rug. Here is where I caught myself just stroking the surface with my eyes, looking for yet another angle to show off the softness that redefines softness
I worked all the way through until about 3:30am, but I had to stop because I kept falling asleep! I was trying to resolve the point, and realized I could not think straight any more, so I left it for tonight.
I’m thinking I might rip it back just a few rows to the end of that last spade shape—I can’t decide if I like that lacy tracery at the tip or if I want a solid ending to contrast with the edging.
See what I mean? And then, how to end the edging? It shouldn’t be hard to figure out how to have two nice oak leaves like Siamese twins mirroring each other there. Whether I can get them to lay right is another matter of course. As we know, the devil is in the details . . .
And about that top edge. I can’t decide if I should use the same oak-leaf edging along the top or something tiny and dainty like this one:
Should the top edge match the rest, or not??
I’ve been doing some other knitting this week too, though NOT on the Starlight Evening Wrap. Instead, I got halfway down the foot of the second camo sock the other night in class.
Now, for those who might be keeping track, I have been keeping up my intention of restocking the sock stash in my closet. The shelf where I keep the finished, but not yet gifted socks was empty in February. And now, it looks like this:
When these are done, I will have just one pair of socks on the needles! I wound some yarn off to get ready for casting on a couple of new pairs. Some Briar Rose sock yarn (the wine)
And some of the new Fearless Fibers Merino Sock (the gray). Smoke and wine—I love it. The tweed awaits my swatching endeavor. Sigh. I just want all knitting, all the time. Is that so much to ask?
