Hip to be Square

Ok, this may be the last time you hear from me for days and days (I know, promises, promises) so I thought I'd show you my finished center square before I go pick up 700+ stitches for the lace border.  I do love Madelinetosh Prairie lace weight in garter ~ it makes such a warm, squishy fabric that's hard to stop fondling.  I even made my husband grab a handful and give it a good squeeze so he could feel it.  My increase sides each measure about 23 1/2" and my decrease sides measure 25", this despite the fact that I made a good effort of never having any unsupported weight hanging from my needles on the downside and distorting/stretching my stitches.  I'm sure I'll get it to even out in the blocking process, but it is definitely a poser why the same number of rows on each side of center would have that much of a size discrepancy.  Hmmmmm ~ I've got lots and lots of time to try and figure it out in the next couple hours while I'm getting all those hundreds of new stitches on the needles for my first lace chart....and a color change!    ~ Melissa

Geometry and knitting

I had a Spirograph when I was a kid that I would spend hours with making all these intricate symmetrical designs.  I think that's what I love about lace.  What do you see when you look at designs by Herbert Niebling?  I see such beauty in the minute detailed repetitive order of everything that his brilliant mind came up with.  And I see the same beauty in even the simplest symmetry, like my cake of Madelinetosh 'cove' caving into itself as more and more of it disappears into my Bridgewater.

I so love every part of knitting ~ from planning to completion ~ but especially the transformation of your fiber as you select it, wind it, knit it and block it, and all the different forms it takes during each step of the creative process.  I might be a faster knitter if I wasn't so darn distracted with every little thing that happens along the way!

If you had to pick one thing, what is your favorite part of a project?  Is it the planning?  Is it casting on that first stitch?  Or maybe wearing your finished piece?  What a wonderful craft we all are lucky enough to have discovered and come to love.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and I can't wait to see the first finished Bridgewater!  I'm feeling like it's only a matter of days before there's a FO posted.....and I'm anxiously awaiting it!

~ Melissa

Melissa's 'progress' ? ? ?

97 stitches of garter this row
97 stitches of garter
I knit 2 together
then knit to the end
96 rows of garter to go.......

96 stitches of garter this row
96 stitches of garter
I knit 2 together
then knit to the end
95 rows of garter to go........

heavy sigh.......

Winter Lace

The sun shined in the windows this morning,made me want to update my journey~ I seem to say this at each section "man this is a lot of knitting,it's going to take forever" I almost have one side completed. I'm so loving this shawl.

~Kelli

When your OCD gets OCD...

...it's time to put the knitting down.  Stayed up past midnight to watch 'Funny People' with Adam Sandler (great movie) ~ 179 stitches on the needles.  Stopping upwards of 14 times every row to go back and make sure.....really sure.....that I did that k2tog at the beginning is really not very productive.  It's time for bed!   ~ Melissa

It's A Square!

Well, just finished the center square moments ago.  I took a photo with my cellphone, but it isn't uploading correctly so this post will be sans picture.

I am a little frustrated that my decrease half seems to be knit in a larger gauge than the increase half.  I toyed with tearing it out and redoing it, but I am convinced that it is a result not so much of my knitting but rather a result of the weight of the shawl and the constant turning round and round row to row that makes the gauge seem wonky.  I have a feeling that once the edgings are added and it is blocked that it won't be an issue, so I have decided to leave it as is.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Morgen

Hallelujah!

205 stitches on the needles.

maybe in another 3 weeks i'll have all the decreases done!