The shawl is finished . . . almost

I completed the 236 rows of Dorothy Siemen's Flirty Ruffle shawl but am now struggling. I'm applying a border that was originally an Elizabeth Zimmerman edging: it stated to cast on invisibly so as to create an elastic edge on the lace . . . but the edge is stretched out of shape. For once in my life, I am probably knitting too loosely. Heigh ho! It's off to Wild Purls I go!

My friend and co-knitter Jan asked me what was in my queue: she loaned me a sweater pattern, and it's going to be close to see who gets it started first. Then I have another friend, etc., who wants to do My Constant Companion with me. Decisions, decisions (so many projects, so little time: I work full-time in addition to tutoring in addition to college classes in addition to an reading internship. Knitting does tend to keep me sane--or at least, less insane.)

By the way, the emergency room (see September post) was $471--for a bandaid and a tetanus shot. Irritation is a mild word for what I felt when I saw the bill. No nurse will ever demand that I immediately drive 26 miles to town at 10:00 for a knitting needle puncture again: I will get my tetanus shot elsewhere and on my time.

I'm on the seventh chart of that Flirty Ruffled Shawl of Dorothy Siemens--and my nephew, Jared, is getting married in two more days. I've going slow on this project because the Icelandic wool affects my sinuses (last spring I went to the doctor before I realized it was the yarn) but it's time to put the pedal to the metal. I'm pretty sure that there will be no ruffle (not enough yarn and not enough time) but maybe a picot edge?

Who says knitting can't be dangerous to your health? I stepped out of the car this past Sunday night only to trip over a tire that my son had left in the driveway. Books, papers, and knitting went everywhere . . . except somehow one needle managed to puncture me mid-thigh (crossways through the front of the leg). Thirty miles, one tetanus shot, and a healthy (unhealthy?) ER bill later, I was home again. Look at my variation on the theme of Cookie A.'s potamus socks (with Edgewater) at Ravelry and admire the colorway . . . but then look at the bend in the needle . . . and that is after I pulled it out and straightened it. Have any greater Klutz story than that?

I am starting over for the fourth time on my Potamus socks. I love the wave action that Cookie A. has used, and I'm using a luscious Lorna's Lace called Edgewater, which separates itself into the colors of calm and stormy sea as one knits. Why four times? I didn't like the YO's the first time, managed to suffer a major catastrophe when I used M1's the second time (distraction leads to various levels of dropped stitches), the third was the swatch (I bet I know where one individual got an idea for the "Naughty" link at Ravelry), and now . . . finally. . . I have those waves swirling in color patterns. The ladies at Happy Hour are determining to mix Panopticon with the likes of Maple Grove in the Knitty ripple pattern from the summer; I'll definitely stick with this for now. (I, too, have Panopticon and Maple Grove, but I love colors in their established time and place.)

Only for Ravelry would I do this . . .

That says it in a nutshell--I do speak languages other than "knitterese" (well, one--English) but not to the extent that I would even endorse such a public method of venting, revealing, validating, etc., as I have been witness to the past couple of years. This blog is meant to ask other knitters about their knitting . . . and my first comment is how can we get Lorna's Laces to reissue that gorgeous limited edition "Autumn Leaves" sock yarn? I drool every time I go to Jimmy Bean's and click on their archive.