Forest Path

If a shawl is blocked in an apartment and no one is there to see it, is it really an FO?

My Forest Path Stole has been waiting a long time to officially become an FO. It began it's journey at Logan airport as I waited for a flight to take me sailing in the Caribbean. I worked on Forest while aboard the boat, and on the flight home. I worked on Forest for months here, in Boston. The knitting was complete in July, but I didn't feel like blocking it. Finally, on Thanksgiving day Forest was blocked. If you aren't familiar with the pattern it is from an old IK, Spring '05 perhaps, but don't quote me on that. It is an entrelac stole ith 3 lace motifs.

One motif is has six leaves to it.

Another had bobbles on it, this was my least favorite motif as I hated knitting 5 or 7 or how many stitches together to form the bobble.

The final motif did not photograph well, but it too formed a few leaves, but in a different way than the motif on the left. The border is simple seed stitch. Over all the effect is entrancing. The different motifs meant I remained interested and didn't become bored with the pattern. I used Jaggerspun Zephyr to knit this, and let me tell you, Zephyr is fabulous yarn. I definitely recommend it.

On to today's flashing, December 6th:

Today I have no clients to meet, no courts to visit, just a phone call and a brief to write. I have a little cold too, so cozy was what I wanted. Today I am wearing a stole instead of a sweater. This is an IK pattern whose name I forget. I knit it using Berroco Pleasure, and yes, the yarn was indeed a pleasure to work with and to wear. This stole is like wearing a warm blanket wrapped around you. What I remember about making this is that it became hot outside as I worked on it and it was awkward to keep having to move the long rectangular piece every time I switched from a WS row to a RS row and vice-versa, so I decided to teach myself to knit backwards to avoid having to move and turn the piece. This method worked very well, and I now know how to knit backwards (taking stitches from the right needle instead of the left). I don't use this technique often though because it slows me down.

Hello, it's knitzalot now, and I wanted to share my FO for December 6th. This one was sort of a disappointment. It's my Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I made it using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, which is a really nice yarn. It also means it is a really expensive sweater. However, I had only the variegated on hand because I had purchased it for another project. I'm not a fan of how variegated yarn knits up, so that's my first complaint. I



also wasn't thrilled with the fit. I added short rows for the bust, which worked out fine, but the neckline is so huge that it falls off my shoulders. To fix it, I pin the sweater to my bra strap, but that's awfully fiddly. The result is that I don't wear this sweater much. It is really soft against the skin, but I don't feel that it's flattering. I really, really want to make this pattern again someday. Another blogger out there did a really gorgeous version of this sweater, so I might want to do something like that.