Blog-i-versary

Has it really been a year already since I started this blog? How weird. I know some bloggers hold contests on their blog anniversaries, but I am not that energetic.

The hops net is down, and I'm happy to report I did not fall off the roof. On the left, the hops nets all enmeshed with hops vines, and on the right, the freed hops net ready to be washed, repaired, and enlarged for next spring, now that I know that this string shrinks in the wash!

The Pi shawl is getting so big I can't fit it in one frame any more. Eight repeats done, number nine started.

Unfortunately as I reached the center of the cone, I encountered some defects in the yarn.

This yarn is like LB Homespun, a soft poufy fiber wrapped with a thin black fiber. In several places I have run into sections where all the "pouf" has accumulated in one spot. I tried distributing it out over several yards, but that didn't work particularly well. In a couple of spots I got mad and just knitted the whole pouf. It doesn't show on the front, but on the back it looks like a big purl bobble! Darn it.

Well, at least it is at the back of the shawl, on the wrong side, and towards the bottom edge. Given where that will hang when I wear it, I'll be very surprised if anyone picks up the back of the shawl and looks at it. "Evil Death Glare" does not begin to cover the look I would give them.

I did the math yesterday. Yards per ounce, shawl's weight in ounces, and number of stitches knitted so far: then stitches per ounce, and remaining ounces on the cone. It looks like I should ju-u-ust be able to make it to twelve repeats and my knitted-on border. Barely. With maybe half an inch of yarn left.

I am dithering over whether to quit at eleven repeats and make sure I have enough for the border, which will be knitted on a size or two bigger needles, or be a dinghoot and try for twelve, risking running out before finishing the border. I have a couple of repeats and a couple of days to decide.

I'll be trying it on to see if I like the length at eleven repeats. I don't want it to be so long I am sitting on the back edge of it and pulling it off.