Downtown to Chinatown!

After a minor surgical intervention to repair a few dropped stitches, Ella was finished in a snap. I don't even have a cramp in my side, not a charley horse in sight. I feel great as I watch the weight drop off my needles. I may even do a few laps around Chinatown's Friendship Gate, for I am in quite the mood for a little happy dance. Or maybe, it's time to stop by Christina's favorite restaurant, the Lakeside Diner, home of the fifty cent pork bun. Actually, I don't know how much a pork bun costs there, but I don't remember ever forking over more than 10 bucks for dinner.

The courthouse borders Chinatown, and you would think that I would eat there often. But, there's only so much moo shoo I can chew, and I can more likely than not be found chowing down at the Reading Terminal Market. The Amish griddle up a sweet stack of hot cakes, not to mention the apple cobbler, homemade soft pretzels washed in hot butter, and . . . don't even bothering counting up those WW points.


The original Ella was knit in Handmaiden's Lady Godiva, which might be a worsted weight, I'm not sure - knit at 5 stitches to the inch on 10's. As soon as I saw the pattern, Koigu immediately came to mind (when does Koigu not immediately come to mind, eh?). Knit on 7's, I wasn't quite at 5/inch, but I think it worked out just fine. I used my mill ends from Maryland Sheep and Wool, and changed from skein to skein somewhat randomly. Once I had picked a colorway, I just kept it symmetrical on both sides, and knit on!

And, now that I've raced on, I've found myself reflecting on what I've accomplished - specifically, I've mentally revisited Clapotis. When you think of athletics, and a workout, it's usually in terms of "did you have a good run?" "did you have a good swim?" In knitting, I've never really thought, "did you have a good knit?" but, that question is apropos of this project - because I did not have a good knit - I had a rather dull, uninspired knit, fraught with stops and starts - once that first stitch was dropped, it was all over but the binding off, as far as I was concerned. It did get kind of exciting at the end, however, as I found myself quickly running short on yarn - it was a nailbiter to the last decrease - I finished up with maybe a yard to spare. In those last furious fastpaced minutes, I had visions of having to rip it out, take out that extra repeat, and NO IT CAN'T BE - knitting it again. Thankfully, I was spared that horror - because as beautiful as the finished Clappy turned out to be, I just don't think I can knit this again -

And Ella . . . I had a vision in my head about how the Koigu would look in that tile stitch, and how the multiple colorways were going to come together - once my vision was realized - I had knit the back, and one full side, I put it away - the thrill was over, the vision complete. But, I am just so glad I finished this. It's really one of my favorite projects ever, and I know I'm going to be tossing this around my denim jacket this fall.

And now, yes, it's time for Icarus, poor neglected Amazing Lace Icarus. After working on it yesterday and today, and putting charts 2 and 3 to bed, I found - GASP! - a hole! Not a missed yarnover, not a messed up stitch - a HOLE!! I must have snagged it on something. Luckily, it's not in the center of the shawl, but towards the top, where my hair will fall, and it's in a yarnover section, so I was kind of able to mend it. After the initial heartattack, and the fear of throwing the "w"hole thing into the garbage, I'm happy to just have it fixed - I think. In the end, I'll still see it, and this project may end up in the gift pile. We'll see.

The race moves on - I should finish Icarus, at this pace, midweek - unless of course, I slip on a pork bun.