Dragon!

Just about a year ago, as a very new knitter, I started the most ambitious knitting project I may ever do. (That's probably not true. I'm highly likely to do it again.) I had no idea.

But it's finally done!
Pattern: Heere Be Dragone
Designer: Sharon Winsauer
Yarn: Lisa Souza Alpaca Lace in Mars Quake

Now, it still needs to be reblocked. I had already started soaking it before I remembered that it would probably need a larger blocking surface than what I had available. I don't have carpet, or a large bed, so there really wasn't any way to expand the surface. So basically just laid it flat, with very minimal stretching (just enough to be able to see the borders a bit), and didn't bother trying to get straight edges. I know this isn't permanent. I think that, in order to get nicely blocked lace, it will have to be at least 12" wider and a few inches taller, but I won't know the final dimensions until then. It should also make the pattern stand out better when it has been stretched better.

I won't say that it was fun to knit--it was way too hard for me (at least, when I started). I made a lot of mistakes, and because I didn't have the patience or the skill to properly fix them, I did lots of fudging. But I learned a lot about knitting lace, I learned tons of new stitches, and I feel a vague sense of awe that I made that. Isn't it fun?

Distractions

So, even though this blog is quite young, I already abandoned it for 3 whole weeks. I'm sorry! But my excuse is...well, Ravelry.

They let me in a day or two after I finished the tangled yoke cardigan, and I just HAD to spend lots of time putting in my projects, prowling around and looking at everybody else's projects, and so on. I first heard about Ravelry in May or June, but I somehow thought it would be a good idea to wait to join until it was out of beta. In August, I got impatient and added myself to the waiting list (and got in mid-October). I like it very much. Hopefully it'll be open completely soon.

But I didn't stop knitting! Or crocheting, for that matter.

Behold:

Pattern: "Lavish Cables" from the Leisure Arts book In Love With Crochet.
Yarn: Lion Brand Suede in Denim (lots of it! around 25 balls, but I lost track.)
Hook: size K

This afghan is a wedding/Christmas present for my sister. It was a request, so no fear of ruining surprises. The wedding was in July, but I had barely even started the afghan at that point, so now I'll give it to her and her husband for Christmas. It's crocheted, with lots of cables and bobbles. I think it may need more fringe (so the tassels are closer together, basically), so that's one tweak I may make before then, but otherwise it's done. Yay!


And this is the VK cabled cardigan. It's moving along. The cabling here is really easy, and it wasn't too boring at first either. Now I'm a little bored, though, after doing the back and the left front. I'm not that excited to move on the the right front and the sleeves, which will just be more of the same. I may just let it stew for a while and work on something else.