Finishing Day

Yesterday I made another huge knitting step... for me. (The last was the swatch.) I finished two projects, both of which involve BLOCKING. As you might remember I had a blocking meltdown a few weeks ago when the WIP was found dislodged from its blocking towel. I wadded it up (gently/angry) and left it to sit on the table. And that's where it was when I finished another project, the baby jacket for Lucy.

Voila! Blocking in progress all of my own doing.

After 5 long years as a WIP the jacket came off the needles this past week and in one day I stitched all the finishing bits - besides the seaming under the arms, all edging was turned under and sewn in creating the lacy edge. The holes from the YOs were split, sewn in half. I credit this project with initiating my first blocking experience. The yarn is very sturdy, *very* sturdy so I used the dunk method or rather the drench method. I held it under the spigot in the shower until it was full of water then wrung it out semi-gently. Tools of my trade: Towel, ottoman, sewing pins and a note, "Do Not Touch."About 10 minutes later I left it to dry. After grumbling over this project for the past couple months, now that it's done I'm quite pleased. Now to see if it fits little Lucy...

Blocking piece #2: Surface Woven Tote

Notice only one piece is actually blocking. I need more pins. But this is a HUGE step for me. This piece is much more particular when it comes to blocking. Last time I tried to infuse the piece with water via rolling in a wet towel. Don't do that. Nashua wool felts very well and my newly trained eyes spotted felt beginnings. (Another reason it ended up a wad on the table.) So I found a spray bottle at Target for when the time came to try again. I carefully sprayed, pinned and measured. I'm not used to that last one (I'm not big on swatching and I feel measuring falls in the same category.) but I measured anyway. Glad I had the energy. Not that difficult anyway. And here I am - almost halfway through blocking. Still to come: surface weaving, lining and attaching handles.

And today I bought yarn for two more projects. Two My So Called Scarves for two sisters that don't read my blog:

Anastasia's scarf
Rio De La Plata Merino
Colorway: Vibrant Orange, Pink Lemonade, Crabapple

Francie's scarf
Rio De La Plata Lana del Artista
Colorway: Pale Blue, Sapphire, French Beige