I promised you pictures, didn't I?

Well, still no DSL here at the Stash - Verizon is on my shit list right about now, so Comcast will be getting a call from me tomorrow after I tell Verizon to shove it. After 6 calls in 3 days and no one can tell me what the hell is going on (I've got two different stories from 9 different people), I'm fed up. Damn Verizon. All I want is fast internet, what do I have to do? So, here I sit with dial-up... but I promised y'all pictures, and I'm going to come through on that!

You may be asking what the hell that is... Well, it would be a completed Flower Basket Shawl!! Yup, a FO! (The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that the lifelines are, indeed, still in the shawl. The even sharper might notice that the lifelines were Koigu. As I explained to Erika the other day, I left the lifelines in b/c it made me feel that there was actual progress made. The Koigu? Well, it was left over from the socks I made Paula and definitely wasn't enough to do anything else with... so why not use it for some nice lifelines? Trust me, it's nicer to rip back to Koigu than sewing thread. LOL!) In fact, it's a Christmas FO! I finished this afternoon while watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on ABCFamily. (Hey, it was the version with all the cut scenes in it, so good times were had. lol.) Once the movie was over, a bathing and blocking party was had.

Yup, we really know how to party at the Stash. Hee! It always amazes me at how lace grows when it's being blocked. I even think that it's still quite pretty despite all the flaws. (Apparently, when I copied the pattern, the shaded boxes indicating no stitches didn't come through. I thought that I had caught all of them - until I was in the last repeat of the pattern and realized that Row 5 had been wrong the entire time... maybe that's why my stitch count was off in a few places? You think?) Luckily, this is being gifted to my sister, who is not a knitter, and she'll be touched that I knit anything for her. She's been hinting for quite a while for me to knit something... and while it's not a sweater, it's still a knitted something, right? :)

Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl from IK Winter 2004 (I think)
Yarn: 2 balls - Misti Alpaca Laceweight, held doubled throughout (I wound them both together into one ball and have a quarter of that left.)
Needles: US7 Addi Naturas - I definitely prefer knitting with the Naturas when it comes to lace.
Time to complete: I cast on Friday, 3 December and completed it Sunday, 12 December. I would have had it done sooner, but I got caught up in other knitting that needed to be done.
Mods: Other than the little hiccup about Row 5 in the Lower Basket pattern, none were made! I know, will wonders never cease?
Fun/Ease Factor: (My nod to Phyl-Phyl, lol.) Very fun and quite easy once you get into the groove of the pattern. Even knitting across the 200+ stitches, I couldn't believe that it was still fun and interesting. I'd definitely recommend it to others!

On the FO front, another Christmas FO!

A simple garter stitch scarf for my youngest (she's 18! Eek!) niece. Or at least that's who I think I'll be gifting it to now. Size 17 needles, a couple of hours (about 3 episodes of Gilmore Girls on DVD) and a Christmas present is done!

Pattern: Just simple garter stitch over an assload of stitches.
Yarn: 1 Be Sweet Magic Ball in Purple Haze
Needles: US17 Addi Naturas, 32"
Time to complete: Three episodes of Gilmore Girls... I kept getting interrupted. :)
Fun/Ease Factor: Definitely an easy, fun knit - especially if you just want to knit and not think too much about it. ;)

Of course, after talking to my sister, apparently my older niece has been hinting about something knitted. ::sigh:: She may have to wait for her birthday.

So, with two FOs under my belt, and completely ignoring any other knitting that has been languishing, I continued working on my Jaywalker socks as a reward. When I picked up the sock, I realized that I couldn't remember the pattern! Luckily, I had a couple of copies right in front of me and after one glance, I remembered it and motored along.

So, tomorrow is being dedicated as a day for Christmas shopping and catching up on some of that languishing knitting. (Mainly because I think that I'm hearing it plan to overtake the other knitting. Man, that yarn has got a loud voice! Hee!)

By now, I'm sure that all of you have heard about Ann's good news. Congrats hon! (If you haven't heard or congratulated her, well get on over to her blog to read all about it! Hee!) Well, while she and JT were in Hawaii, having all that fun, I was here in cold DC, keeping an eye on their place. (Really, I loved doing it.) So, to thank me, she and JT brought me back a little bit of Hawaii:

Isn't it fab? A fun lei (in PINK, of course), a yummy scented candle (which the Irregulars all proclaimed smelled like cake, yum!), a fun journal, oatmeal and honey soap, and to top it all off, a jar of delicious Lilikoi jelly! Ann told me when she gave it to me that it tasted like Hawaii... if this is what Hawaii tastes like, I'm moving there!

I'm sure there was something else I was supposed to update on, but... well, I just can't think of it. Call it Christmas-In-Retail brain. I can barely remember 5 minutes ago, much less something I need to remember to update about, unless I write it down. LOL! Makes for horrible updating of the Stash, but the CIR brain is great at work - we get so busy, that we're going from one customer to the next so quickly, that there just isn't a chance to forget anything! ;)

Comments

[Heather]

I love your FBS!! Turned out really beautiful.

[Niki]

Your shawl is gorgeous! I am sure your sister will be very delighted. I know I would be!

[Shelley]

Isn't FBS the best. Yours looks beautious my dear!

[MJ]

Oh, pretty FBS. I loved using that yarn. Did you like it? Everything else felt like sandpaper for weeks afterward!

[Ann]

Love the shawl!! Looks loverly. And there's something oddly appealing about gartering a scarf over an assload of stitches.... lucky niece!