The After the Holiday Pile.

I had a lovely vacation/break/series of days off. I cleaned my study up, got laundry done, and cleared up a whole bunch of odds and ends that needed clearing. I am tired now, so it is time to go back to work. Well back to normal. After a while off, I just crave going back to normal.

(In case you are thinking that I did a lot of work, there was a lot of sloth involved too. The study now needs cleaning again, the laundry is piling as per usual, and if someone doesn't get to the hand wash glassware, there will be no room on the counter for anything else. Come to think of it, while the cupboard is empty, maybe I should clean that too. )

I finished up a few things. As I mentioned previously, I received several lovely yarns at Christmas from Mr. Needles. One was knitted up and this last couple of days, the shawl lay folded in the bag waiting. Yesterday, it was blocked, and this morning finds only the ends to weave in. The pattern is the Eye of Partridge Shawl from Not Another Knit Blog . The yarn is Woolie Silk from Handmaiden in a colourway she calls Straw and was knitted on 5 mm needles, a slight departure from the pattern. This shawl speaks to me of fields of wheat just as they are changing colour, just before they are going to be cut. It is absolutely the right sort of shawl for my farm girl roots.

I mentioned in one of the Holiday posts that I had picked up my Grand Plan Capelet, knit up way back in spring last year, when I was in the throws of lusting after the book, Wrap Style.

The capelet is now on the wear me today pile. I finished the neckline with tiny clasps in a antique pewter finish and I am pleased with my choice. They are nicely understated in size but they speak volumes about the piece. A capelet, with its well defined form is by its nature, not the kind of thing to fling casually about your shoulders. A capelet sits tidily, delicately on your shoulders. It is a reminder of days long past when ladies carried muffs for their hands, and bonnets were deriguer. The picot edged button band and little standup collar reinforce that image and make the closures and even better match. Dainty, delicate and refined is how it makes me feel to have this little luxury on my shoulders.

This project needs a good blocking, but I am wearing it right now(cold study). Blocking will happen tonight. When a project is knitted in the round like this, its a little awkward to block. The plan is to dampen it, put it on the dress form, and slip the blocking wires through the bottom. It will need just a little something to add just the smallest bit of weight to crisp out the lines, and the lace. Perhaps a skein or two of yarn would work. That should do the trick without bending my blocking wires.

I was so buoyed with the shawls, that I picked up another project that isn't quite up to snuff and tired option one of my plan to fix it. Option one is not going to work so I will try option two, which is to go down, row by row, on the single stitch, a yarn over, that needs reworking. If this cannot be done, the my last option is going to be to rip it all out and reknit. I really really don't want to do this. I don't want to even think about it, but the top is so nice, the fabric the 1824 cotton made is so good to feel, that I'd like to wear it before summer. And I want to knit up the cardigan to wear with it, gosh darn it.

With that bit of exploration out of my way, I finished the little scarf for my aunt this morning, I wound up a bunch of yarn and cast on another project. No point in the needles getting rusty.

Onward to the rest of my day.

(This is how I feel without coffee. Posting to the blog is always pre-coffee. I am riding the cusp of feeling good right now, of that I am sure. Maybe it would be safer for the rest of the world if I didn't have any coffee today, but what fun would that be?)

Thank you for the nice comments yesterday. I really appreciate your kind thoughts.