I finally finished the Flower Basket Shawl. It sat languishing in my pile, to be picked up for a few rows here and a few rows there. Last weekend, I took the plunge and finished the darn thing. I worked until I thought that I had enough to just work the border. I pushed it a wee bit too far. I only worked 1 row of 3 of the last chart before the very last row. I had 3 yards remaining after the last bind off. So the scallopped edging isn’t a large as it should be. I doubt anyone would really notice — unless they have their own FBS sitting next to it and comparing it row by row.
The yarn is one that I picked up at Stitches West. It’s 50/50 cashmere/merino. Soft and lofty. I’m not that thrilled with the color, but at 50% off, I couldn’t resist. I figure that I can always overdye it if it gets too obnoxious.
The project sitting on top? It’s the Anarchist Pullover, from “The Knitting Anarchits” by Anna Zilboorg. I had a stash of odd balls of Jaeger Matchmaker DK that I was thinking of making a striped vest or sweater, but I fell in love with this pullover. Unfortunately, I’m not so in love with all the ends. I finally started to weave the ends in as I knit on the new color. Hit me with a 2 by 4 enough times and I’ll learn.
The good news? I learned to knit backwards. Otherwise, turning the whole sweater over every 16 stitches would be a real drag. As it is, I’m turning it at each outline row because I haven’t quite figured out how to purl backwards.
I’ve made a few mods to account for the different gauge. I couldn’t quite bring myself to be “random” by just putting my hand into the basket and pull out a random color. The engineer in me won out. I have a color chart that I’m working from. Hence the “Near” in the title.