Grudgingly

I blocked.  But grudgingly.  

Mostly I knit and took out knots in the skein of yarn I was working with.  It all turned out well in the end, but note to self:  Next time you wind a ball of slippery stuff like this, Just do it by hand.  Way less headaches.

The knitting was grand though.

I have had years to sort this one out and I am pleased.  I managed to plan it and knit it without a pattern.  The fallback pattern was the Little Arrowhead Shawl by Pam Allen.  I am delighted to say that I will still knit Little Arrowhead, but out of some other yarn.

I knew that working with such a multi coloured yarn can be really difficult.  The pattern couldn't be anything busy.  The yarn takes care of that.  Knitting something with a lot of fancy stitches would  be lost in that garden of colour.  I chose a simple little bead pattern and for a second motif, knit a variation on it by repeating the middle rows several times.  

The search for the last stitch pattern took days.  From the minute I knit the first bead repeat, I was hitting the books.  I have a pretty good collection of edging motifs, but most of them are knit from the side.  I needed something that flowed from the rest of the stitches.  The one I choose is adapted and lengthened from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia.  

It will never win prizes for stunning design, but it pleases me.  The colours and stitches remind of my mother in law's favourite Sweet Peas.  Summery.  Fresh.  Simple.  Pretty.  And just a little old fashioned.  

It isn't blocked yet but I have an excuse.  My pins were busy.