Would you be surprised if I told you my Friday list took two days to get through? And I didn’t really get through it all, I haven’t been outside.
But, I did do this:

I know, these painting pictures all look the same. But here’s what’s done – four of the five wooden cases are painted (insides only, outsides will be covered by trim) the fifth one has two coats everywhere it needs it, and just needs a third coat on the bottom shelf. I’ll do that first thing in the morning. Also complete are the 5 backs. Four have been done for a week or so, I did the fifth one yesterday and today. I really love the blue, which dries much darker than it goes on, thankfully. Doesn’t the color look great with the blue of the walls? Encouraging A to remember our compromise, I haven’t painted any of the actual shelves. 🙂 I can do that when the boxes are installed. Most of them are primed, and just need finish coats (3) and the ones that aren’t yet primed can wait until that 6th box is ready to be painted, as the primer is oil based and a pain to clean up.
I also took the Danse Macabre from this:

to this:

to this:
I am so in love with this shawl and thrilled that I get to keep it! The designer is Boo Knits; the pattern is Danse Macabre. It is the MKAL I did in April, and while I didn’t finish with the gang, I did push hard on it, and I learned some lessons. The big one is not to do a Boo Knits MKAL – I can’t do her patterns in a month. I love them, they are unbelievably easy to follow, she charts and writes instructions, thinks about everything. She creates beautiful lace. It is my second one, and I will make more. But not in a crazy month. I think my speed is more like 2-3 months. And that is with focus.
I also learned that I love tussah silk, which this is not. This is Juniper Moon Farm Findley which I already knew I loved. But the pattern called for tussah silk, so before the month was over, I ordered some of what the design called for. And I can see that it will make a very different cloth. I love all the photos of my fellow KALers’ projects, and I can’t wait to make a shawl from the stuff.
Meanwhile, here’s my art shot of the day:

So. You might be able to see in the blocking photo all the empty boxes that once held pins. I had some blocking squares left, but Maluka had to wait until this morning, for want of pins.
This was a much easier job – wires at the top, a pin at each point, half an hours’ work, as opposed to the two plus that was Danse.

I am hoping for a couple of things to happen with this blocking. The first is that merciless stretching will gain some width in this – it seems more like a scarf than a shawl.
The second is that the top will not roll, also the result of merciless blocking. I thread the wires through every single stitch, and pinned it tight, so it isn’t rolling now, but I bet when I release the tension, that top will roll.
This is a pretty shawlette, in yarn I love – it is called “like lichen”, but it really is aqua and blue (are lichen blue and aqua? I always think of them as silvery, or bright orange), so of course I love it. However – if I do this again, I will do some heavy modification. That thing that looks like a cable is really wrapped stitches, and it was a pain in the neck. I’ll put a cable in if I do it again. I will also do the eyelet more like Kate Davies Hap for Harriet than this is. They are very similar, YO in garter, but this uses a double yarn over in the last one to create the extra stitch – Davies just does one more YO than she does SSK. I like it better. And I would do one more row of eyelet in each point so it isn’t so clunky. Then I hope I will remember to bind off the proper number of stitches in each point, since I will have increased more than the three the pattern calls for. Lastly, I will make it wider. That will require a second skein, of course. And the edging did take me forever, so making it bigger means longer than forever. But I think the finished garment will be more useful.
Also, thinking about using a different color for the border and the body. Not sure about that, but as this is far down my queue now, I have time.
For now, I will work on Reyna and baby hats for sale. Reyna is almost done – or rather, I am almost out of yarn. This will be a good game of yarn chicken as the skein the store sent is 50 yards shorter than the yarn recommended in the pattern. Glad I got my fancy scale for Christmas! I’ll weigh after each row and try to use every inch.
I will leave you with these photos of my supervisor. Normally, I don’t let her in while I am blocking, but today she snuck in when I wasn’t looking. Apparently, pin cushions are wonderful toys. She even got a pin out and was batting it about. That got her evicted.


PS. The clothes came and everything fit! Miracle. And the new blue skirt matches the Danse Macabre shawl perfectly. Life is good.
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