swallowtail shawl + new sewing machine!

Finally, I've finished something! I think this is my first large FO of the year, that's pretty bad considering we're already at the brink of the first half of the year's end.





Swallowtail Shawl
from Interweave Knits Fall 2006
(May 18 - June 27, 2006)
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk in Sangria (1 1/4 skeins used)
Modifications and comments: It seemed like a lot of people were wishing their finished shawls were larger, so I did a couple more pattern repeats before the lily of the valley edging. Finished, it is almost exactly my height in width, so that works. The extra repeats did lead to very minor fudging in the border, I was amazed that I didn't have to do more but then again I've never messed with lace patterns before.

I love knitting shawls, I love the lace of course but it's so nice to not have to do any joining when you're done. I liked the Sea Silk quite a bit, nice sheen and hand, but it was a little stinky and the red dye kept on weeping, which I think is quite normal for any red dyes, but was nonetheless a little annoying. Hopefully it won't come off on my skin or clothes when I wear the shawl.

Anyway, over the last year or so, I've been working on down-sizing my possessions. This meant doing a mental inventory of everything, and then getting rid of things that I no longer use. As a result I've been knitting from my stash, as well as selling the yarn that I no longer have any intended projects for. So far it's been working pretty well but I know I could certainly do with less, it would take me a long long time to use up all the yarn I have. And I really should be spinning more. But I do try to sew a bit in the summer, it's a little too hot and humid around here for spinning in a household without air-conditioning. So all of that hard earned money from the yarn sales basically went into this:


A friend gave me her old Sears-Kenmore machine a while ago but it was starting to make funny noises and I didn't want to pay the price to get it serviced when I could get a new machine for a "bit" more. That's obviously an understatement but after a lot of thinking and some math and research, I ended up buying a new sewing machine. Hopefully this means some sewing content to come? ;-)