Yesterday, in Photos

Yesterday started with blocking this black mini shawl. It's one of the shawls for my square shawl workshop. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the yarn is my secret weapon for shawls -- sock yarn -- with a silver fleck in it. You've got to love blocking wires for a project like this. Because.....

In order to block my Orkney Pi (It's Finished, TA DA!), I had to draw more circles on my blocking sheet. My pattern drafting course materials came to my rescue: that one metre, bilingual straight edge and a green sharpie created six new circles on my chequered sheet.

I needed every last line, too: the faggotting on the edging went to the 36 inch circle (and that's the radius measurement. Point-to-point, the Orkney Pi measures 76 inches (and it has over 225,000 stitches in it.)

And here it is, after two hours to draw lines and pin it out. Oh, I tried the new Knit Picks blocking pins, and I have to say they are fine wire, easy on the hands, very sharp and they work well. I needed two more packages to do this job right. If anyone learns of a source for the rustproof pins in the yellow container, let me know. I need more of those, too.

Since the weather was fine, I headed out to the garden and popped impatiens in the shady areas of the yard such as the 'kitchen' bed, front door beds and shady containers and petunias and pansies into the containers that actually get some sun (on the dock and the steps of the cabin).

This is the Kitchen bed... it's had a lot of attention this year. Prior to blackfly season, I added the blue corydalis, foam flower, Solomon's Seal, Acanthus and astilbe visible in the photo. (The croci, trillium, sedum and coral bells were already there).

After that, I could hardly move and I was hungry (I'd stopped to grab some toaster waffles before heading outside), so I made one of my favourite meals: KDPV - Kraft Dinner Prima Vera. You take your average box of KD, boil the water, add the macaroni and the vegetables of your choice (I used cauli, carrots, broccoli and celery in this batch) and cook 'em right in with the pasta. While that's brewing, you grate a cup of chedder cheese. When you're doing your sauce mix, toss in the cheese and stir it all together. Tip for Moms: this is a great way to 'hide' veggies in plain view.

Then I sat on the front deck and tried to puzzle out a knitting design until the cold and the mosquitoes got to me.

We're SOOoooo close!

It's been a busy holiday weekend: Social events two out of the three nights, test knitting on Flowers for Mary, the main project in the next issue of Knit Together, another few points done on the Orkney Pi, some bits 'plugged in' to the next issue, and today -- paperwork, which brings me to the subject of this post.

The last new number on the membership list I recorded today was number 999! That's right: we're one membership away from member number 1000! Who will it be?

Member number 999 is The Knit Cafe, in Toronto, our newest Retail Member. www.torontoknitcafe.com . Drop on over to their website for a visit!

It was a rainy day.

Last night's workout left me stiff and sore, so I thought that this rainy morning would be a good time to crawl around on the floor pinning out a three-foot doily. A couple months ago I 'borrowed back' the Kinzel Sun Ray I had made for my sister, to add to my shawl workshop examples. It came complete with a huge mustard stain (I think it was mustard) which I was able to remove. Here is a picture of it starched, stretched and drying:

While and all it makes a beautiful table centrepiece, it would also make a nice shawl.

This piece was made of the left-overs from a cone of 5/2 cotton I used to make the four-foot Rose of England table centrepiece for my ex's mother (who I still fondly refer to as my MIL, even though I now have a new MIL-to-be).

Speaking of shawls, last weekend saw me cross the half-way point for the points around the outside edge of the Orkney Pi. Another month, by my estimate, and the Orkney Pi will be laid out on the sheet in the photo above.

Here is a picture of the Orkney Pi with some of the edging in natural form:

Before I show the other pieces I starched today, here is a sneek peak at the project for the February issue of Knit Together. The test knitting is most enjoyable because of the yarn I'm using. If you can get near any Sirdar Baby Bamboo, go for it!

And now, the other two pieces. If you're going to work up a batch of starch, you may as well make the most of it!

On the left is a doily I knitted years ago from a McCall's special. The pattern was funky, because you knit the centre, then the openwork ends, then pick up stitches all around and work the outer border. It's a pill to stretch accurately, and it uses up every pin in the house. The square one is from the Anna/Burda special that is still the buzz on lace knit lists. The pattern is a bit boring, however, it, too could be expanded to make a beautiful shawl, in either a square or triangle format.

Now I'm going to get some lunch, then clear off this tremendously messy desk, and do some paperwork!