I started a third lace shawl project a while ago, and then got side-tracked from working on it, for a wide variety of reasons. A few days ago, I began working on it again, and I’ve reached the 25% completion mark.
Let's see... if I pull that thread there, I wonder what will happen....
Mishkin really really really wants to help with my knitting projects. He’s quite sure that he can participate in a meaningful way.
Charted pattern using a spread sheet on my computer
This style of knitting is called Orenburg lace, from the Orenburg region in Russia, along the old silk road traveled by Marco Polo. It is still practiced today by the Muslim women who live in the region. This is a portion of the shawl pattern that I created on my computer using a spread sheet. The shawl has 542 rows, each being around 290 stitches wide, excluding the border which is on all four sides, and adds another 36-48 stitches to each row depending on which row of the border I happen to be on. The elements of my shawl pattern are all traditional Orenburg patterns, but this is going to be a unique shawl pattern. Can’t wait until it is all finished and blocked.
Last night we had a small drama. Mishkin caught a live mouse and was loath to surrender it. He demonstrated that he knows the difference between his play mouse toy which he brings to us repeatedly for throwing, and a real mouse which he was not inclined to share with us. We did finally get it away from him, without him eating it. He was most annoyed. But he forgot about it overnight and we are back to throwing his toy mouse. And Dan and Mishkin are enjoying a rousing game of “Chase the Cat.”
Must be spring! Fog, cold rain, fat snowflakes, cold rain, fog.... repeat....
A few minutes after I took this picture, the drizzling cold rain turned to very fat fluffy snowflakes, and what little view we had to the west disappeared into white. And now, another few minutes later, the snowflakes are small and mixed with at least half rain. A good day thing we have the wood stove going, and a supply of tea with which to refill the teapot.
An excellent day for knitting and watching the world go by. Dan is playing music for our entertainment.