Estonian Lace Christening Swatch Shawl Blocked!

After blocking, the swatch shawl turned out to be a whopping 3ft by 3ft! I guess I got a bit carried away with my swatching! To see more detail, click on the photos to enlarge images.

Close up of the centre

Inner border

Outer border

Outer border and edging

Corner

Draped

The swatch shawl was knitted in Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight in white on 2.75mm circs. So, now I'll start the full sized version with a few minor changes!

I Won!!! I Won!!!

Forgive my manic excitement but I can't help it as I actually won a blog competition which is such a rare event in that it's never happened before though not for lack of trying! Modelwidow had a blogiversary competition in which she had a photo of the pieces of her Babette blanket and we had to guess which square her daughter had crocheted. Well, apparently, I guessed right and won the fabulous prize pictured below!


Well, to be truthful, this is not all that was contained in the parcel. There were actually two bars of chocolate when I first opened it but one mysteriously disappeared! I love the cheery red gingham bag and little pouch containing a sewing needle, two pretty little stitchmarkers and even some folding scissors!


How neat are they! Everything is so well made and I'm absolutely delighted with my prize! Thank you, Modelwidow! I don't really do socks but I do intend to make some of the Latvian and Selbu mittens so the bag will be just the right size for carrying around my mitten projects.

The Estonian Lace Christening Swatch Shawl has been blocked and I think I can safely say that it no longer resembles a dishrag. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow!

The Estonian Lace Dishrag

Fresh off the needles and that's what it looks like presently - a bit like a lace dishrag!


However, let's see what a good wet blocking will do! This is the swatch shawl for my Estonian Lace Christening Shawl and it's quite a large swatch measuring, in it's unblocked state, 27 inches x 27 inches. The proportions will not be the same for the real thing, e.g. the centre will be larger in comparison with the borders and I'll be making other changes, too, but making the sample shawl was a very useful process. Having never knitted a shawl with a centre, borders and edging before in one piece, it was a bit audacious as a first attempt to design one but that's me all over! I also got used to using my new charting software and learnt a few more things on the way that will, hopefully, ensure that the final full sized version is better than it would have been had I not done the sample first.

The home clear out still continues and, as weekends are the only time we can get together to do it, today is allocated for continuing on the garage which will, hopefully, by the end of today, be purged of everything that is just clutter. The rule is if the item in question has not been needed/used for a substantial amount of time and is not likely to be needed/used for a substantial amount of time, then it goes. One is allowed to use some discretion as to what constitutes 'substantial' and this is where the arguments or should I say, debates, begin! So, it's back to work.

Tonight, however, after dinner I know what I'll be doing. Getting a backache from contorting myself in an effort to get the pins in just right the place to try to make something that resembles a sample shawl from the dishrag!