Done at last!

I had the great benefit of being home a couple of days last week while some workers came in to turn my bathroom from a tragic pile of squalor into a gorgeous sleek beauty of a room, and I also didn't have much going on at work, so I was able to power through and get the skinny silk scarf done!

I was a little concerned because there's no binding off in this pattern. I had to store the stitches on a dpn while I worked on the other end piece. Luckily no stitches fell off.

Then I knitted up the second end piece.

And then I grafted the two pieces together! I really took my time with this because kitchener stitch is the bane of my very existence. I'd do a couple of stitches and then walk away for a while. Worked out fine in the end, I'm happy to say.

And finally I was able to block. I'm so happy I have wire rods, which I threaded down the sides. I'm also happy for heavy-duty t-pins, because the little flimsy push pins I also have just were not doing the trick. I stretched the holy hell out of this thing.

But that's how we get from this ...

To this!

It was still slightly damp this morning, so I haven't taken the pins out yet, and I may block it again because it's not totally uniform, but either way at some point soon I will post a pic of this thing being worn by me.

I'm really rather pleased with myself.

Now I need to work up the courage to get back to this:

An unexpected gift

Back in December 2010 (I can't believe it was that long ago) I finished a thread tablecloth that I'd been working on for, literally, years. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it because, naturally, I don't have a table. Not long after I finished it we got some good news that an old family friend had beaten back Demon Cancer and was also about to celebrate a Very Big Birthday, so I packed up the tablecloth and sent it along to her. I have it on good authority that the tablecloth was well received.

Last week I got an amazing and unexpected gift in the mail as a direct result of that tablecloth gift. Another friend of my mother's had gotten wind of the tablecloth gift. She is a long-time crafter who, unfortunately, can no longer hold a hook, and who didn't have anyone to pass along her trove of books to. So she sent them to me!

Here's part of the letter that was enclosed in the box.

Some thread, some squares for a bedspread, and the bedspread pattern.

And all these books. Just look at them! Some are quite old.

I can't wait to leaf through them and see what's in my future.

The best part is that this woman is also clearly a huge fan of thread and doilies.

So there you have it. An amazing gift from a very generous woman. It has left me wondering though: who will I gift all my books and stash and hooks and needles and looms to when I can't hold a hook anymore??

Lazy days

I have been unabashedly lazy the last couple of weeks. Not a stitch was made! And then this past Sunday I was faced with some much coveted Alone Time and got another five repeats of the scarf done. So now we're up to 15 of 23 or 24.

Becoming longish.

And still really curly.

And I still don't have the pattern memorized.