Pi, Dry

Although I have a nice, fairly new dryer, I don't use it much. In the summer, I prefer to line-dry clothes (I love that sunny smell!) and in the winter, I have a nice folding drying rack that I put up in front of the soapstone stove. Given the low humidity in the winter, plus the radiant heat from the stove, everything on the rack dries very fast and adds a little moisture back to the air.

For scale, the rack is 36 inches wide.

And here is my husband acting as my mannequin. I think I said I wasn't sure at first if I liked the moss stitch border, but it did grow on me. I think the horizontal line across the bottom gives it a nice finished look, and some contrast to the textured fish-scale points of the lace.

In this shawl, the lace is more of a texture than a pattern (if that makes any sense). I think it makes the shawl warmer. I'm wearing it right now, with a shawl pin at the neck. It turned out just the right length, so I'm not sitting on it in the back and yanking my throat. In the front it drapes over my forearms and ends nicely at the bend of my wrist.

I am 5/6ths done knitting the very last pattern, pattern 28, of Sampler M!

Carla has given us the option of continuing the sampler with other patterns, but I included the edge of my ball of crochet cotton in this photo so you can see why I will be casting off after one more repeat of pattern 28.

Once again I have struck cardboard, and so I'll be finishing the sampler, and finishing another ball of crochet cotton from my stash at the same time. I will probably knit up the new patterns using yet another ball from my stash.

Pattern 28 used crossed stitches, or small cables, with one stitch passed behind three stitches. I also tried it with two stitches passed behind two. I've never done any cable knitting before, so it was a challenge. Since I didn't have a cable needle, I hung the waiting stitches on a crochet hook behind the work, and that worked fine.

My netmaking class went well. I am always so nervous before a class, it's a wonder I ever teach anything. But my students picked it up enthusiastically.

My philosophy of teaching is that the best place to make mistakes is during the class, while the teacher is right there to help you. I view making mistakes as a good thing, so you can see how a successful netting knot looks, and an unsuccessful one. It's important to know what the slipped knot looks like, otherwise how would you know to avoid it?

And in the end, it's only string!