Block Around the Clock

Finito! I did a single crochet around the hem, neck, and edges on Saturday. I tried doing the crab stitch (backwards single crochet - thank you so much, Carolyn, for helping me figure it out!), but it was such a pain and didn't seem to add anything to the finished product. I crocheted around one sleeve and am, apparently, a tight crocheter, so I pulled that out and am leaving the sleeve edges alone for now. I also tried crocheting a little scalloped edge, doing a crochet one, chain three, then crocheting the second stitch (skipping one stitch), which I think I picked up from Annie Modesitt on Knitty Gritty Episode 408, though looking at the page on DIY, I don't think I did it right. Oh, well. It was sort of cute but fussy and kind of a pain. The single crochet firms up the edge, and I think that's enough.

Blocking is like boiling water: a blocked sweater never dries.

I washed it Saturday night after doing that crochet edge and am still waiting for it to dry - hopefully by tonight.

While washing the cardigan, the yarn gave off a little bit of dye and looked more lavender than I had thought while working with the yarn. Maybe it's the bare bulb in the bathroom (267-year-old houses are the ultimate WIPs) or knitting in the dimly-lit Keeping Room. I should compare the yarn to my Pantone books. Hold on... I'm going to go with PMS 214-7 (25% Cyan, 10% Magenta, 0% Yellow, 0% Black). But the lighting here in the office is a little whacked.

So, I'm back to working on Grandma's Shawl (and should join the KSH KAL, no?) and may have exacerbated my carpal-tunnel syndrome doing a couple of squares for a baby blanket in Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton that a bunch of us at Yarns In the Farms are doing together. I'll be fine. But my first square is too small, and I charted and reverse stockinette-stitched a letter on it. My second one seems to be the correct width, and I'm doing a Vandyke stitch from a Mon Tricot stitch dictionary that looks like lacy hearts. But it's on stockinette, so I'm not so sure it's a good idea. Guess I have to check with the gang to see if the blanket should be reversible or if we're not going to line the back or what.

Speaking of KALs, there's a handy list here, and I'm tempted by the year of sweaters but don't know if I'm enough of a joiner.

OK, back to my real job. Watch this space for yarn shop reviews! IMOndays coming your way...