Saturday, October 27, 2007

off the needles and ready for blocking


I finished knitting my bee fields shawl last night and will be blocking it today. It's raining cats and dogs here in NYC so it will probably take hours to dry. I'll post a photo as soon as I can take it outdoors for a nice 'autumnal' shot. :)
This shawl was a pleasure to knit, but I did find it more pleasurable to work on when I didn't try to knit on it at the end of a long and tiring work day, especially the last sections with the multiple yarnover bee motif. These fairly flew off the needles when I was well-rested but seemed very tedious to me when I was tired.
I had hoped to finish it in time to wear to Rhinebeck, but that didn't happen. I knew that the designer, Anne Hanson, would be at Rhinebeck and was hoping to show off my own 'bee'. I did run into Anne as I was leaving the fairgrounds on Sunday afternoon and we had a nice little visit. She admired the shawl I was wearing, Summer in Kansas from Two Old Bags, and we talked about knitted-on edgings and such for a while. She's lovely and it was very nice to meet her face to face after corresponding with her by email.
The yarn I'd originally ordered for the shawl, Wooly Wonka's Buckwheat Honey, has been saved for the Honeybee Stole which I'll start as soon as I get caught up a bit more on other projects. After living with this yarn since August, though, I'm thinking that I'll probably overdye it with a smidgen of Logwood Grey from Earthues Dyes to tone down its brightness just a bit. Although it's a lovely yarn, I don't usually wear such bright colors and think I'll get more use out of the stole in a color a bit more subdued.

4 comments:

Carrie said...

Can't wait to see it! My bee is stalled, but I'm hoping to work on it again soon. The yarn has such a spring-y color that it's hard to work on now that it's fall.

SYLVIE said...

I can't wait either! Hope you had the chance to block it today.

Marjorie said...

Summer in Kansas is on my "must knit list". Do you have a photo of your shawl? I've always been puzzled by the type of yarn to use for that because the recommendations don't give yardages. But Two Old Bags had a booth at Stitches East, and they said any fine lace weight would work.

Congratulations on being nearly done with Bee Fields. I've just reached the point where the first section makes sense, and it is going quickly now.

annmarie said...

yes, Marjorie, I have a picture of the shawl in a post on my blog from September 2006. Here's the link to the post: http://riverknitter.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-i-spent-my-summer-vacation.html
The yarn I used is from Joslyn's Fiber Farm and it 'bloomed' quite a bit with the blocking. Yes, any laceweight would be good with this pattern. :)