Presenting....Arabian Nights!

It's done, blocked, and the ends are woven in and trimmed. Let's talk about the grafting. OMG did that take forever. Okay not forever, but about an hour and a half to do the actual grafting and then another hour to fix the wonky parts.

It's huge, but so pretty. For the first time, I tried blocking it to the specified size. It didn't look so good and I reverted back to my usual blocking method. I do a full wet-blocking for lace. Then I lay it out on the floor and smooth it out with my hands until it looks okay. After that, I start securing the crochet yarn that I threaded through the straight edges. From there, I start really stretching it to get the lines straight. This shawl was different because it has beaded sides that aren't straight. I pinned those out individually--ugh! That took forever. In the end it wanted to be around 35 inches wide (!) and 91 inches long.

Overall, I'm happy with the look. I do need to go back and reinforce the beaded fringe. Some of them stretched out during the blocking process. Actually, I would recommend not doing a full wet-block with beaded fringe. I need to add some beads to the center where there is a visible line in the beaded diamonds. I think it will look perfect after adding in a few beads to fill the gap.

Final details:
Pattern: Arabian Nights by Sunflower Designs
Yarn: Hengyuanxiang Knitting Wool - used 210gms
Needle: size 2 (3mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Hook: size 11 (1.05mm)
Beads: 8/0 Iris blue
Changes: I grafted the center.
Blocked size: 35 inches by 91 inches
Start: February 26, 2008
Finish: April 2, 2008

What I'm not happy with are the pictures. This purple yarn is so hard to get the color correct in photos. And why is it that the colors look different from Photoshop and Flickr? I take the photo into Photoshop, adjust the color and size, save it, and upload it. It seems that flickr must do something or my eyes are getting old. No laughing from you--Dwight. :-P

My secret project has been delayed in getting to me, so I have been trying to fill my time with small knits. I decided to try Anne Hanson's Orchid Lace mitts. I bought this pattern to use up leftover bits of lace yarn that I have saved. For my first try, I tried using the leftover Dream In Color Baby yarn from my Irtfa'a shawl. I only had a little under 40 gms of yarn left, but decided to give it a try anyways. I had enough--just barely enough. These mitts are so quick and easy. I finished these in one day. What was difficult was getting a good photo of my own arm with the whole mitt in the shot. I managed to do it thanks to the swivel lcd on my camera.

Details:
Pattern: Orchid Lace mitts by Anne Hanson (Knitspot)
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby in Gothic Rose - 36 gms
Needle: size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Start: April 1, 2008
Finish: April 2, 2008

I also finished a wash cloth--exciting! ;-) I still haven't gotten word on my project, so I'm off to find another quick knit.