Skip to main content

A Fini Ashton

My Madeline Tosh fingering weight ¨Mare¨ coloured shawl is now completely finished.   On Friday I picked up blocking rods or wires to complete the beauty making of this shawl.  Although I had previously purchased a few wires, more were needed for this project.  Saturday morning I started the blocking and stretching process.

The directions for blocking a lace shawl given in the Ashton pattern by designer O'Keefe were very clear.  One is directed to spread the top or longest edge out first by running wires through the YOs (yarn overs) at the edge (you weave the rod over and under the openings).  A measurement needs to be taken of that stretched length.  In my case it was 63.25 inches/161 cm.  According to the directions the spine down the center should be one half of that measurement or 31.625 inches/80.5 cm.  Alison, the class instructor, recommended to help the spine remain straight that one should place rods in each side of the knitted stitch that makes up the spine.  I found that to be very helpful in achieving a near perfect center line.  ¨T¨ stainless steel pins are used to hold everything in place.
Seeing what is being described might be helpful.  The ruler is on the spine.
Finally to get the points on either side of the shawl, one runs a ruler along the edges and pulls on the points pinning them in place to dry.  I am a rookie at all of this, but it took only 1 hour from start to finish and that included 20 minutes of the shawl soaking in a quick bath.

It dried for about 36 hours when I just had to dismantle everything to see what I had.  Here's a few pics starting with a reminder of what it looked like before blocking and then a couple after.


Pre-block.  Note the points just curl.

On a white wall.  You can see the spine and points pretty clearly.

Back lit on the glass door of the china cabinet.  This shows off the design pretty well.

I am satisfied and have to admit, this one just might have to be something I keep for myself.  It isn't perfect so I'm reluctant to give it to another.  Today I wore it around the house with a wooden shawl pin I had purchased years ago anticipating someday to have an opportunity to use it.  The colour is perfect for wearing with jeans, BTW.  As a retiree jeans have become a wardrobe staple.

What a complete joy to have this challenging project now fully and completely finished.  I am proud of my tenacity to see this to the end.  Oh, I guess I must have enjoyed myself because a second is already on the needles!

Comments

  1. Unknown2 November 2014 at 23:33

    Wow! Nicely done Jan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JFlag3 November 2014 at 08:19

      Thanks Candy. This project was about 10 times more challenging vs. any food knitting I have done.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and
1 comment
Read more

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW
1 comment
Read more

Yarn Barf

It's back to quirkiness and time to step away again from the cuteness for a while.  But as you see I'm someone who slips from one to the other without much effort so anticipate this back and forth to be my new normal. A dramatization of me in the midst of my startitist frenzy Yarn barf .  I'm willing to bet you hadn't thought of putting those two words together, had you?  It just so happens yarn barf can be a reoccurring pain for those of us who use yarns that come in a skein instead of a hank.  (No pun intended regarding the current Noro virus, well maybe a little pun.) Skeins of yarn wound by the manufacturer These are hanks which need to be wound into balls  If you look closely at the picture on the right you'll see the start on the millet yellow skein at the centre right of the photo.  Its start can easily be seen coming from the centre of the skein onto the violet skein to the left.  Easy to find, right!  Sure but what about the remaining 4
5 comments
Read more