Year of Projects Update 24th February

I wanted to make a concerted effort this week, to work through my blocking pile and get long-finished projects finally completed and able to be worn. Of the four projects awaiting blocking, only one has so far made it onto the boards and into my wardrobe (the Baktus, which I shared on Friday). Eleonora and Peerie Flooers require a more complicated approach, which is why they are still languishing in the basket.

Cwtch Shawl in Natural Dye Studio Scheherezade

My Cwtch Shawl made it out of the basket, but after playing with it for a bit I have come to the conclusion that yes, my bind off is too tight and it won't block effectively. This means finding the time to sit down and undo the bind off without dropping any stitches, before finding an alternative bind off that will have more give in it. Luckily, I have a small ball of leftover yarn remaining, so will have the extra yardage required when I get to the end again. I can't remember which bind off I used when I did it the first time, but I'm sure I will figure it out as I unpick it!

In it's place, however, and jumping to the front of the blocking queue is my latest finish - Lazy Katy. I am amazed, as it has only taken me a week to knit this shawl. By far, my quickest finish to date.

Here it is in all it's unblocked, wrinkly glory. I am absolutely in love with it. I love that the colour changed back to the bright blue for the bind off row. I still have a fair bit of the Zauberball left as well, just over 180 yards, so if anyone has any ideas about what I could use that up with, I'd be grateful!

It was actually surprisingly easy to block, because once you've got the corner in place and have started pinning out the points of the lace edging, the natural curve forms itself and you don't have to pin the non-lace edge at all. It was a bit hard on the back, as I spent a lot of time leant over the table tweaking a pin here and a pin there to make sure it was even. I will try and get Jamie to take a decent picture of it in action to show you next week.

This leaves me with only one YoP Project currently on the go, the Light of Earendil Shrug. While I will try and add a few rows to it here and there, I will still need to cast on something else for those evenings when I am just too tired for laceweight and beads. Eskimimi's new pattern, the Mrs Tumnus shawl, is my current favourite, especially as she is hosting a KAL over in her Ravelry group starting on March 1st. As I have no yarn on my YoP list that is suitable, it won't count towards this years list, but as I've stuck pretty religiously to my list so far this year (well, with the exception of the Christmas Stockings) I don't mind veering off it for a little while.