An Invisible Finished Object

Well, it might as well be invisible for all my camera and laptop are willing to do. I can look at the photo in the viewfinder, but that's it. I can't get the laptop to acknowledge the camera's existence, no matter what I do. I'm about to go try with the desk-top after having spent all of yesterday fighting with the problem.

Anyway, I finished the shawl yesterday. I have almost three yards of yarn left from the ball. I wasn't getting very nervous, because I have two more skeins of the yarn. I did get nervous enough to go wind off one skein into a center-pull ball, though. Now I should go back and skein it off, rather than leaving it in the ball.

The shawl pattern is Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl, by I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can. It's an interesting pattern, easy enough to memorize fairly quickly, but just difficult enough to keep the knitter engaged. And it's pretty. I added a few repeats, to make the shawl bigger. I was using a different yarn and went with US 8 needles. I liked the size given in the pattern, but the recipient, who isn't a small person, asked me to make it bigger.

The yarn is two-ply fingering (sock) weight Peruvian wool in Mermaid and I bought 300 g, in three skeins. It's very nice to knit with and the colors are gorgeous. I think it came out quite beautifully, although I am a bit biased. The yarn is from Enchanted Knoll Farm and I recommend this supplier highly.

I frogged my 50/50 silk/merino DK version of the shawl. Now that I'm made the other one, in fingering weight, on the same-sized needles, I think that I should have been using larger needles for the DK. It just wasn't going to stretch much and it was too small. This former shawl has turned back into two center-pull balls. It's kind of sad, but I have to admit that there's a certain thrill in frogging an entire (if small) lace shawl.

I'm going to make something simple, like another wool scarf, before I start on the next shawl. Actually, I'm thinking it might be a stole, not a shawl. Or a circular or semicircular shawl, just not a triangular shawl. Not everyone looks good with the tip of a triangular shawl pointing right at their bottom. I really like knitting triangular shawls, but I do have to consider the recipients, too.

Wait a minute! I just thought of something to try. I have an itty-bitty 8-meg memory card that my laptop will read directly. If I set the camera for 1-meg photos, I should be able to squeeze a few shots onto the card.

Ah, ha! Photos of the finished but unblocked shawl.


I can't model it because I'm wearing a batik patio dress that's green and blue and matches the shawl superbly. You'd hardly be able to tell the difference. Both yarn and dress are just a little darker than this photo shows.

Here's a closer shot to show you the unblocked lacy pattern texture. I think the texture looks kind of nice, but I know it'll be gone the first time the shawl gets dunked into water, which is going to happen fairly soon now that I've gotten photos posted.


And here is what was left of the ball of yarn:


Am I good at estimating how many repeats are left on the ball or what? Lucky, that's what. I'd have had to frog 18 rows of about 250 stitches each to correct things properly if I'd run out, although I suspect I'd have cheated and just frogged four rows, to skip the last two rows in the hem edging. It wouldn't have looked quite as good, I'm sure, but it would have looked OK to anyone who didn't know how it should look.