Wrap Me Up and Call Me Finished

My "Wrap Me Up" shawl is finally done.  It was actually finished some months ago but needed to be blocked and pinned out to dry.  The hold up was that it was so long that I needed to pin it out on the floor of the sunroom and it was just too cold these last few months to do that.  We finally had a nice warm day last week so I gave it a good soak and pinned it and today the pins came out.

Here she is out in the sunroom.  I had to really work to keep the dog from running over it each time she was let in and out to "do her business" but I was successful in keeping it safe from stray claws.

The shawl was designed by Chris de Longpre and it is composed of quite a few sections, each a different knit pattern.

The beauty of this design is that you just don't get bored as you knit this shawl because before you know it, you are switching to another pattern and you are off to the races again.

I got so that I could hardly wait to see how my yarn would play out with the next pattern.  Speaking of yarn, I used Noro Cashmere Island yarn, some Cascade 220 Heather for the big ruffle and part of the border and a bit of my own handspun yarn.

Here is the ruffle done in the Cascade 220.  That ruffle was really a unique feature of the shawl and fun to knit.

For the border, I ended up selecting some of the colors from my shawl and using those to crochet around the edges in half double crochet stitch, I think, although it could have been single crochet.  It's been awhile since I did that part.  Then I finished it off with a shell crochet stitch.

All in all, I think it came out quite striking.  I already have some more yarn picked out and purchased to make another one.  That's half the fun of this shawl....browsing around a yarn shop and putting together different yarn and color combinations as you visualize your finished shawl.

Now back to a very "unexciting" project but one that is near and dear to me anyway.  I'm working on some fingerless mitts for the Commander.  His hands get cold as he works away on his computer down in his computer room and he actually asked me if I could knit him a pair.  It's the first thing he has ever asked me to knit for him so this project is a true pleasure to do.