Knit and the City

Yep, so this was a great plan. Great plan. A perfect match. Well, at least they're pretty . . .

Actually, I've overcome second sock syndrome, at least with the STR Feather and Fan sock - the second sock is not only cast on, it's progressing nicely down the cuff, and depending on which of my 20 billion cast-on projects I choose to knit during the Wimbledon final tomorrow, I may even turn the heel and head towards home . . . the fate of Pomatomus is another story.

So, while I haven't been blogging (because the pool, alas, has not gone wireless, although it does have an open bar), I have been knitting. Along with the perfect pool knitting (socks), I recast on Courtney's shawl.

For those of you who don't know Courtney, she is the co-author/creator of the famous Rosie's Half Pi Shawl, and formerly (and soon to be again), Rosie's staffer. When she moved down to some farm on some island somewhere south of Pennsylvania, we all knew (hoped) she'd be back. And, about a month ago, like magic, there she was in Rosie's, working on a Saturday, with plans to permanently return sometime in the fall. While she chatted about her plans, I kept staring at that oh so good looking shawl she had on. I snatched it right off her, is this Anne? Our lady Anne? Of course, an Agnes original. See Courtney is starting her own line of patterns, Agnes Designs, or something like that, and I would totally be enouraging all of you to run out and buy her patterns (I know there's a Koigu baby jacket and a fab sock coming soon), however, I don't know where she's selling them or how, so I'll let you know as the Agnes line develops.

But, I begged, pleaded, cajoled her to give me the pattern. So, she agreed that I could test knit it for her - and then, when she went back home to the island, I nagged nagged her to mail it to me.

I already blogged about the day it arrived in the mail, and the perfect timing to try my new circular cast on. Originally, I cast on in Andrea.

Andrea Andrea, Andy . . . you just don't know what you want to be when you grow up. You didn't want to be a lace cardigan, and after one repeat of Courtney's Shawl (which does have a name, I just can't read it in the font that she printed the pattern in - Palenthrope maybe?), you clearly rebelled against being a square shawl. Sigh, out would come again, and back in the stash you would go. Someday we'll find you.

Anyway, I recast on in Anne - which was no easy feat, because finding 2 identical skeins of Anne is not always the easiest thing. Luckily for me, Christina purchased 2 skeins on line (well, because I told her Little Knits was having a sale . . . but with the postage I think the sale saved her a dollar) that she ended up not liking, so I bought one from her, and traded my skein that I had gotten in the 'burbs for the other one.


So, this squished up thing is a beanie -- no, really, it's a square shawl. You can kind of see in the picture at least one of the four triangles, sort off. Well the pattern does call for lots of blocking pins.

Here's a close-up. Believe it our not, that would be a tile stitch. Blocking is magic. The edging is some kind of lotus, I think. Anyway, I'm almost done this center part - I need 19 tiles across a triangle, and I have 13, six more to go.

Hopefully, tomorrow's match will go five sets . . . so much for turning that heel.