Starstuff

There's a famous quote involving that word; I just don't happen to feel like looking it up right now.  "We are all starstuff," or something like that.  I love the word.  And I definitely feel like a star of a different persuasion strutting my stuff in the following completed projects.  Have a little look-see, why don't you?

Shown to the right is completed (but not blocked) Path of Flowers stole.  When Knit 'n Purl finally re-opens, the pattern will be available for purchase, and my handiwork will be on display.  (Pumps fist in air.)  I feel a certain pride in finishing it, even if it isn't my original work.  Because it was hard, dammit.  Remember the pattern stitches every row and the sewing thread lifeline?

May I also point out that one reason I'm a bit loath to let go of it is that the colorway matches my phone?  To quote Anne Shirley a little bit on this one, "Mineshaft?  Oh, no, this is far too lovely to be called mineshaft."  That and you don't get hand-dyed silk/wool Helen's Laces down a mineshaft.  Except maybe in Minecraft?  There I suppose it could happen.

After that behemoth, naturally, Project Mozart suddenly seemed easy.  Even the nupps, which led me to warp my needles as I was doing them and almost consider switching to newly freed circulars.  Papagena scarf fairly flew to completion after the tribulations of true knitted lace.

I did worry just a little about the effect the self-striping Crazy Zauberball sock yarn was going to have on the join.  Actually the exact seam seems to have escaped this photo session, but as it turns out I needn't have worried.  I joined it between a purple section and a white, and those occur so randomly in the yarn itself that it actually looks almost like a natural transition.  Certainly not something you'd be looking for while "reading" the lace at the opera house.

By the way, for those of you who, like me, tend to forget how to do kitchener stitch grafting and have to look it up again when needed:
1. Place pieces WS facing (or RS outward).
2. Thread needle through first stitch in front purlwise, then first stitch in back knitwise, pull through but don't drop stitches from needles.  This is your setup.
3. Thread needle knitwise through first front stitch and drop it, then purlwise through 2nd front stitch but don't drop, then purlwise through 1st back stitch and drop it, then knitwise through 2nd back stitch but don't drop.  Pull yarn to tighten.
4.  Repeat step 3 until last stitch on each needle.  Thread needle knitwise through front stitch and drop, then purlwise through back stitch and drop.  All stitches are now cast off.
5.  Pull to tighten, weave in ends.

Speaking of opera, KAL shawl made its debut in dress rehearsals for the CMC Gershwin concert.  Pictures (lots of) are attached because it's a very photogenic little number.

I anticipate wearing this a lot.  The weight of it is just enough to provide a little warmth without being smothering.  And the color is just gorgeous.

Sure, knitting it felt like knitting a road map, but when the result is this good, who am I to complain?

Oh, just one more shot for good measure.













And one day, when I'm done with Knit 'n Purl homework assignment #2 aka Sandpiper scarf, there will be more pretty pictures.  And possibly a scrap of a scarf of my own invention to use up the extra yarn.  I hate to waste.  Also I despair of storage space when I get to New York.  Gulp!