The rest of the story

I had intended to publish a post last summer, but after I typed the post, my computer put it somewhere I couldn't find, so I sort of gave up, and as so often happens, I "accidentally" found it--in the blog draft pages, for which there are no links on the regular post page, so I am not sure how one finds the drafts even now.

Anyway, the last post was found, finished and published today, even tho' the day says December 28, 2013. Try not to be too confused.

Here is a picture of the finished project:

As I was pinning the shawl in place with the blocking wires, I noticed four little stitches near the beginning of the project that were sort of hanging loose with little connection to the rest of the stitches--this was not good. Apparently, when I purled all four of the stitches together, I picked up more fuzz (it is a mohair yarn) than yarn, and in the process of being washed, the fuzz gave up and turned those four stitches loose. Since I am inherently unable to rip down an entire project, I had to devise a solution to corral those four renegade stitches: I took a piece of yarn and did duplicate stitches as though I were knitting the all over again; tucked in the ends and viola! hole closed, stitches safely under control and only I know it (and whoever reads this blog, of course).

And once again, I will try to keep to a better schedule of blog entries. It's not like I have nothing to report, since at any given time, I have six or eight projects in various stages of completion. In fact, I am working on another cobweb scarf, but more of that later.

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

I am fascinated by very small needle/small thread knitting (well, not size 70 thread. That isn't knitting, it's masochism). I found a glove pattern for Opera thread on size 00 double pointed needles. What's Opera thread? I had no clue. Asked my connections, mainly two sisters who do this stuff as well, and they weren't sure either.
I also didn't have size 00 DP needles. Since I made a trip to Vancouver, WA around that time, I checked out alocal yarn shop in Camas. I asked if she had Opera thread, she thought she did. Rooted around in a basket, found some ecru Opera thread and finally, in the bottom (of course) of the basket, one ball of white Opera thread. I was thinking of sort-of wedding gloves, and they must be white, right? So I got the ball of Opera thread which was a bit spendy for plain cotton thread even if it does have a nice sheen to it. I found the needles within a mile of my son's house in Vanc. at JoAnn. A package of 000, 00, 0 and 1 needles, just in case I have the compulsion to knit something else in fine thread (don't they have medication for this?) Or failing a project, they will do just fine as a weapon.
So I had all my necessaries at hand and proceeded with knitting up the gloves. Did I mention that the pattern was in only one size? Oh well, I cast on the right number of stitches, got my pattern established (I thought) and knitted the lace edge...and somehow it turned out backward. The knit side, which I thought really was the nicer side, ended up in the inside, which I didn't actually notice until I was into the body of the glove a ways. By the way, I should probably mention right here and now that I would rather have a root canal than rip out a piece of knitting. So there I'm stuck with an inside-out cuff but figured I would simply make the other glove match and who would know the difference? No, it would not have worked to simply turn one side to the other since from that point on, I would have to knit it left handed, which I can do but prefer not to.
So back to the glove: I am now into the body pattern and it is a pretty interesting pattern with a stitch move I have never encountered. It required the third stitch from the end of the left hand needle to be lifted over the preceding two stitches, then k1, double yo, k1. On the next row, you knit one stitch into the double yo, knit a few rows, and do it all over again. The stitch acted about like a cable would, pulling in on the pattern quite a bit, which I didn't notice until I tried the glove on somewhere around the finish of the thumb gusset. Oooh. That pattern must have been printed in 1850 when grown women were the size of modern 10 year olds. My hands are on the large side and I wasn't disappointed I couldn't get my hand into it, but no way would my grand daughter have been able to either. Maybe a three year old?
For no sane reason, I finished the glove up to mitt size and cast off, but didn't cut the thread. Maybe after it's had a few months resting in the drawer, in a nice dark place, it will make nice and actually fit my hand. Not!
Rip it, rip it, rip it (frogging) to try another pattern another day. Anybody have any good Opera thread patterns?