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Yesterday I hosted the knit group and we had a blocking party for my longstanding Color Affection shawl. It’s done, it’s blocked, and ready to be given to its intended recipient. I get to do that tomorrow, which will make for a nice Monday.

First, the “deets”:

Pattern: Color Affection, by Veera Välimäki
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry, colors Tea Party, Cloud Jungle, and Deep Sea Flower
Needle Size: 3 (but I’d go larger on the next one)
Date Started: Early October 2012
Date Finished: May 19, 2013

Notes:

I read a lot of the comments about modifications people have done to this pattern before proceeding. In the end I chose to do a KFB increase instead of M1L and M1R, as this is garter stitch and KFB is very unobtrusive in that case.I was also concerned about the overall finished depth of the shawl from top to bottom, because the recipient is tall. Sp I added an extra repeat in the short row section. Next time I think I would add depth in the two-color section instead.

I have to say that even though it took me forever, I really enjoyed this project. It was simple because it was garter stitch, but it held my interest because of the frequent color changes. That, and because of the (really simple) short rows, every time I showed it to someone while it was in progress, they commented about how “different” or “complex” it was. I liked feeling smart! Haha… if those people only knew how easy it really was.

Of course I did have some 11th-hour drama. I was planning to have the gang over on Saturday for knit group and blocking, and of course I waited until Friday night to bind off. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like binding off 400-and-something stitches late, late at night, and feeling like you’re cooking along, only to glance back about 200 stitches to find that you DROPPED one. Yeah, I did. And of course, pulling out the bind off yanked on the stitches pretty severely, even though it was loose, so I had to re-knit that last row, one stitch at a time as I undid the bind-off. Crap! Well, ok, I said more than that to myself at about 2 in the morning, that, and I may have cried a little. But it got done, and I took a wee nap at about 4:30 a.m. (I mean nap, too, because i had to be up at 6 on Saturday morning because of kid commitments.)

After all that, here’s what it looked like before blocking:

So as I was saying, yesterday I held knit group at my house so I could have help with the blocking. Tammy and Jessica helped with this and I am grateful to them! It was Jessica’s first time coming to our little group, and she just dove right in! I hope she comes back again so we don’t put her to work next time.

The shawl was out drying and blocking on my dining room table for most of yesterday and today. This afternoon my husband passed by the table and spied this:

Apparently Clyde thinks this luscious new shawl is for him! Of course we informed him otherwise.

I loved the shawl but it is not for me so it is not my colors. So, before I lose my mojo for this project, I cast on for another one right away:

Apparently, I am a glutton for punishment.

The new one is purple (of course!) with green and blue. I hope it is as much fun as the first one.

I’m hoping I’ll be able to get photos someday soon of a happy recipient in her new shawl. She doesn’t mind the camera, luckily, so watch this space for some fashionista photos very soon.

Ciao for now!