3 More Rounds--but no Photo.
I am back to a normal pattern of
ending with a one plain round —something I hope to keep with for these
last few rounds. Since yesterday, I have knit round 218 (plain) 219
(pattern) and 220(plain).
Next up is round 221-- of 235! --8 more
patterned rounds, (and 8 more plain ones) + 2 round as a edge; that's
18 more rounds to the shawl. Then I can bind off--or plead insanity,
and add 6 more bonus rounds! I am actually considering the 6 extra
rounds and a lacier finish to the final set of feathers.
At this point, it seems I will have
enough yarn to do so--(the one gigantic 8 ounce ball is now an
flattened one of only 1.75 oz.(about 50gs)--so while a lot of yarn (over a mile)
has been knit—there is no worry about running out of yarn. (Since I have another skein of this yarn anyway, well running out of
yarn was never really a worry.)
My goal now it to have it done by the
end of the month—to keep up with the 2 round routine—even if I
take a day or two off as I go along.
Round 219 was my correction round.
Somehow, small errors do creep in—some
of the feathers were a stitch short--(somewhere I missed or dropped a
YO) some feathers had extra stitches.. (how?!) some feather were not
centered (the raised center decrease wasn't exactly in the center of
the leaf. In all, about 5 feathers (of 60) had some small
defect—but now each of them is perfect.
The defects were small but now all of
them are correct-- I am not a super stickler for corrections—I do
my best to keep the pattern correct—and try to check each pattern
round as I go--(I do have pattern markers every other pattern
repeat.) But I have no intention of frogging rounds and rounds of
work for a single stitch that is out of place. A small correction or
two (or 5) spread out over 60 motifs isn't really going to be
noticeable—especially when done mid feather. These corrections
would be much more noticeable at the tips--(when a single feather
with a bent tip from a K5 together –instead of a knit 3 together
stand out.)
Now that it's almost done—I need to
find an art supply store and find me some silk paints.
Art supply store are having a rough
time—Big box stores like Micheal's and ACMoore carry a lot of the
basics (and cheaper, I suspect, but I haven't been pricing canvases
or brushes)--but they don't carry specialty items like silk dye or
silk paint. They have some cheap dyes for cotton (tie dyeing
T-shirts)--and some stock some dye supplies (synthroll (sp?) for
one) but few have mordants (many are toxic) and fewer still have acid
dyes or silk paints. Silk paint, unlike dye, doesn't need heat to
set. Paint it on, let it dry, and its a permanent color.
But art stores have a hard go at it,
competing. Pearl (my favorite art supply store) went under a few
years ago, and a local (well not really local anymore, but local for
years when I lived in Little Neck) store—Ben's Artarama is gone now
some 8 years. Ideally—I find someplace on the island—or will
schlep into Manhattan—I am sure some of the great art supply stores
on east end of 14th Street are still there. I'll bring a feather with me, to color compare. Until I stopped and really looked at the colors--I never realized how much bronze could be found in an actual feather. I hope I can find some paints that have iridescent qualities.. the feathers really light up and change colors.... I'd love to be able to capture that quality.
