The final stretch...

We are within the final day of the Olympics. And I know that I will make it...at least, as long as I stop drinking the wine in my glass. It's really good, but I haven't eaten in a while and I need to stay sharp for my first adventure in lace blocking. I have just reviewed the Yarn Harlot's wonderful tutorial found here, so I think I am ready to go.

This was me knitting through last night's movie selection, "Hero". (Wow, can Jet Li be any cuter?) How did I knit lace and read subtitles you ask? Well, we violated a cardinal rule at Chez Dis and B - we watched the dubbed version. Gasp! (This is how I know my husband loves me ;-)

So with a little wine and a little warm doggie on my lap, I knitted until I started to nod off with my needles still in hand.

This morning, I made it to the home stretch. This is what knitting the last row of the last chart looks like...

The binding off took FOREVER. But I was determined to finish it before I lost my natural light (which is a big thing because our place hardly gets any inside and certainly none at 3:48 pm on February 25th). I found the binding off method very cool and it left me with a nice edge without it being too tight, which I tend to do when I bind off.

So, without further ado, I proudly present the unblocked version of SHAWL:


My shawl even has body jewelry. Something, I just now remembered I still have to fix before blocking. I was showing my friend in SLO last weekend some of the little "design modifications" in SHAWL, when I noticed a big one...an open stitch just hanging out there, waiting for the right time to drop. Boy, those little lockable stitch markers really were worth picking up.

And for those, so close to the finish line...Youcandoit!