Sunday Shawl Stuff

And the rain came down all weekend, and I was lazy. We had the weekend off, and I had a whole list of things I wanted to get done. I didn't get them done. Hardly any of them, at least. I did get the Shawl That Never Ends blocked. That means I finally got a chance to use the Eucalan wool wash I bought down in Jackson in March.

First step was to scrub the kitchen sink out really well, and fill it with baby bath warm water.  I added the Eucalan, then I dropped the shawl in and let it sink into the water.

I gave it a good long soak.

After sticking about a gajillion pins and muttering a thousand times how much I needed some blocking wires, I got the shawl pinned out on the bed. 

Here is the shawl, released from its pins.  I wished, not for the first time, that I had a better way to show off my work than spreading it out on the living room floor. 

In the meantime, clue 2 from the Anniversary 10 mystery shawl was released.  Eagerly, I ran into the office to print it out, only to find out my printer wasn't working.  It wouldn't even turn on.  I fiddled with it a bit, but it was deader'n a hammer.  I suppose I could try to get it fixed, but really, it's cheaper just to buy a new one.  You can get a good printer/scanner these days for less than $100.  So I rushed right out to the store and bought a new one.  But I didn't really, because it was pouring down rain.  I decided it could wait. 

I tried to knit the clue from my laptop screen, but got all messed up and ended up ripping the entire shawl back to the beginning.  I thought briefly about doing a different chart.  See, each clue has 4 different charts to choose from.  I'd done chart D the first time, but after seeing chart C, I really liked the way it looked.  In the end, I did chart D again.  I think chart C will look much better in a solid color, so I'll save it until the next time.

Funny thing was, the first time I knit clue 1, I zipped right through it with no problems. This time, I had to start over like 4 times before I got it right. But I persevered and finished. Then I started clue 2. I also did chart D for clue 2. I don't know why, but chart D just looked the most interesting. I kept losing my place, and had to tink quite a bit, but I made it eventually.  About half way through the clue, I was able to switch to my circular needle, and that made it a lot easier.   At the end of the clue, I was finally able to put in a lifeline.  I feel much better now. 

It's hard to see the pattern, but here it is.

Anniversary 10 Mystery Shawl
Yarn: Knitpicks Shadow Tonal in Queen Anne
Needles:  US 5
Clue 1:  Chart D
Clue 2:  Chart D