Monday, June 27, 2011

Meander with me Monday

Like any good slacker in training, I'm enjoying a rare and relatively silent (so far) Monday. I'm on the countdown to a good week off work and frankly, even if today is cooperating, I'll appreciate not having to punch in at all. With that said, the phone is sure to drive me nuts tonight.

The lace blob as it usually appears when it isn't stuffed inside a bag in timeout.

It dawned on me that the photo I offered up for my Pretty as a Peacock shawl was from last year sometime. Maybe even 2009. Yes, it's been on the needles that long, and if it took you an hour to knit and purl two rows, I dare say you'd dawdle, too. The problem with lace is that the return row, which usually has no fancy stitches can be complicated when yarn overs stick to the knit stitches from the preceding row. What should be mindless knitting or purling, is anything but. If you don't pay attention, like me, you'll be ripping back to the lifeline. I can't tell you how many times I've had to rip on this shawl, but I will tell you it's more than five, easily.

The lace blob stretched out.

Since you all seem to appreciate lace and how complicated it appears, I thought I'd show you how far I've really come. Out of 218 rows, I only have 72 to finish this and I've put myself on a knitting plan. If I knit 10 measly rows a day, I'll be working on the border in 7.2 days. Not too shabby, right? Except I mean it when I say it takes me one hour to knit two rows (718 stitches), and in about another ten rows, stitch count will increase to 910 stitches in two rows. Somewhere later in the pattern, there will be over 1,000 stitches, so I'm not sure if my original plan to finish this in a week will work. We'll see, but if it kills me, I'm going to finish this stunning beauty.

The lace blob, sloppily pinned, from a distance. The top of the photo is the neckline of the shawl, and the bottom will soon sprout more peacock feathers and then wings.

And then I'm gonna dye it.

I've never done that before, so it should be interesting, and at the least will make good blogging fodder.


And because I promised meandering today, why the hell does the FedEx man park his truck in front of this neighbor's house several times a week? I assure you, his deliveries are rather long and while his employer may think he's a slacker, I'm not so sure he is. He's working hard at something. Must be Blue Footed Booby Business...


Told ya we'd meander, didn't I?



10 comments:

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

oh i SEE the peacock! wow that is amazing. no wonder it took so long!

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoox

Ruth said...

that is so beautifull.
enjoy being a bit slack

Silliyak said...

He's "delivering the male"

Jane said...

Rudee, this is amazing. I knew you had the patience of a saint

Brenda said...

That shawl is really going to be a beauty. The dyeing would scare me though after putting all of that work into it. What a planner you are!! Counting out the stitches and time to finish it....wow...

Celia said...

You are better than me. I have no patience for lace. Hmmm! FedEx man?? What's up with that?

Celia said...

To Ruth: "Delivering the male"! That cracks me up!!

Taking Heart said...

I can't wait to see it dyed... my mom dyes EVERYTHING... she is also a tea stainer... I've not been that brave yet!

Your "blog" is "BEAUTIFUL!"

Stephanie V said...

I thought I remembered something about dyeing that shawl. That will be even more spectacular. One row at a time.

It used to be the milk man, didn't it?

Rudee said...

Yes, Stephanie, I was going to have my friend Sarah dye it, but I'm feeling adventurous. I think it was your posts that did that to me.