Still working through yesterday's knitting excitements...

And, indeed, there's one that hasn't been mentioned yet. My order from Heirloom Knitting arrived. With it a note from Sharon saying that she doesn't think the fine merino yarn she sells (of which I had ordered one ball, for testing) will be suitable for the Princess Shawl without alterations to the pattern. "Alterations" meaning "simplifications" -- the yarn is too thick. I sat down and started at once, nevertheless. I used a 2.5 mm needle, coarse by Sharon's standards, fine by mine. Sort of meeting in the middle.

I've done nearly one and a half repeats of the edging. It's not just that I love the yarn,and that (unlike the silk of my first attempt), I can actually do it, but I also like the way that tiny scrap of lace looks, hanging on my needle. The silk just looked like a mess. I think the thing to do is knit four or five repeats and then take it off the needle and dress it and consider the future. Even just smoothing it out on my knee, it's obvious that Sharon is essentially right -- the row tension is not bad, but the stitch tension is too big, that is, the edging is wider than it should be.

Finished size doesn't matter all that much on a shawl, of course, but this one, knit Sharon Miller's way, is huge. One doesn't want it much huge-er.

So Death has, for the moment, retreated from the sitting room, but still with that familiar grin on his chaps. You've started, but will you have time to finish?

Clapotis

I hope to dispatch it to granddaughter Hellie today. I've printed out the first two pages of the pattern again. I'll send them to her for the sake of the photographs. This has proved to be a rare instance of knitting that I actually like better now that it's finished than I did while things were going on. Silk is utterly unyielding and therefore surprisingly harsh to knit. This yarn is only half silk, but even so the fabric seemed sort of stiff and uninteresting. But with the last ladder laddered, it becomes wonderfully slithery. I hope she likes it.

The pattern is still up: it's at http://knitty.com/issuefall04/pattclapotis.html

Odds and Ends

That still leaves the issue of the hat for my Games entry. I've come to a decision on that one, which I will reveal tomorrow. I'm still winding yarn, Merging Colors and Pioneer. I thinned my doorstep lettuces yesterday, and weeded them. I've added my friend Janis' blog to my Favorites list:  http://defi-knitly.blogspot.com/.