Love/hate relationship with computer....

Sorry I've been gone so long. I've been having a war with my ISP/dial-up even more intense than the sock war. Oh, by the way, I am officially dead in the sock war. I received gangrenous green wool socks in the mail last week. It's actually a relief to be dead because I have so much to do!

I'm still having problems uploading photos. I took a bunch of photos of shawls and only one made it through the upload process. You can see it below. I'll try to get the others up as soon as I can.

While I was at the shop chatting with Knitwits, I managed to snap some pix of several projects of various Hillcreekians.

Madonna Ferris stopped in for the Knitwits gathering with her son, Ray. I got pictures of two of Madonna's shawls, the first a shadow shawl (pattern by Maureen Mason Jameson) in Kokopeli and Noro Kureyon in her trademark teal and purple. The second is a pink shawl made of Shaefer "Nance" Yarn in "Tink". The pattern is Oat Couture "English Garden Shawl & Scarf.

The other photos will have to wait for upload.

On the needles: I finally finished my mom's lace shawl for Christmas. It will be used as a demo piece for this Saturday's blocking class. Have you ever made a garment that, well, turned out a bit strange and lumpy? Does your lace look like a tangle instead of lace? Blocking may be just the medicine your knitting needs. This technique involves gently washing, shaping and pinning your garments to dry in the desired dimentions. It's great for shaping individual pieces before assembly so everything lines up to make seaming easier. It's also a must for lace to look actually lacey.

Anyway, we'll be doing some blocking in Bex's blocking class this Saturday, 10 am to noon. Cost is just $15. Come join us.

Oh, that class is also covering steeking. There are some very brave women out there who have discovered a way to knit sweaters, including arans and fairisles, in the round and then turn them into cardigans by CUTTING THEM right down the middle. Please apply smelling salts now if needed. The sweaters do not unravel and the results can be both beautiful and functional if done correctly. What would drive ordinarily sane people to this drastic measure? A lot of patterns, either texture or color, can be tricky to do from the wrong side. They get confusing and mistakes build. By doing them in the round, the clever knitter can do all her work on the right side where she can see exactly what she is doing with each round. Come join the insanity and learn this useful technique. Bex will be covering this topic along with blocking at Saturday's class.