For our collective birthdays, Peter and I got a new digital camera. (Actually, we were given an Amazon gift certificate on his birthday and I have been spending the months since then researching and stressing about which camera to purchase.) The camera, a Canon A540, arrived at our doorstep yesterday. My old digital camera is an ancient piece of junk that came free when we bought a desktop several years ago. Over the years, I have been able to coax some nice photos out of the old camera--but doing so has not always been easy. Naturally I thought that getting a new camera with tons of bells and whistles would infinitely improve my photos with a touch of a button. [We pause here to give everyone a chance to laugh at me.]The new camera came with SEVEN manuals. Granted, three are in Spanish and are repeats of three that are in English, but finding seven booklets stacked on top of my tiny camera was a bit intimidating. I've taken many photos already and have read 1.5 manuals but I still can't get a decent photo without using the flash. Of course, the sun hasn't been cooperating with me--it's either been behind clouds or on the other side of the world the entire time that I've owned this camera. At least I can blame my less than spectacular photos on the weather and not my lack of photographic talent.
So anyway, please bear with me for the next few weeks. The photos you see may not be the best ever, but I'm trying my darndest.
Barbie Border!
For many months, the Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl resembled a hot pink jellyfish and any progress that I made on it was unnoticeable to the casual observer. Not anymore! I started edging over the weekend and visible progress is evident as the edging grows longer. This is my first time knitting a perpendicular border/edging on a lace shawl. My only other lace shawl had a crocheted edge. Because of my lack of experience with knitted-on lace edgings, I was overly optimistic when I started this edging.
When I finished the last round of the shawl's center, I naively thought, "Yay! Just the edging is left! I'm almost done! No more long rounds!" [We pause again for a second burst of laughter. Wipe the tears from your eyes. Are you ready to go on now?] Then, I knit one repeat of the edging and stared at it. "So narrow? How many more times do I have to repeat this?"Despite Barbie's insistence that Math Is Hard, I did some mathing. The last round of the shawl had 576 stitches. Each repeat of the edging "ate up" 12 measly stitches. I needed 47 more repeats of the edging. Because I was in a mathing mood, I did one more calculation. Each repeat of the edging has 540 stitches total. One repeat of the edging was almost as much work as the last round of the shawl! 540 x 47 = Nowhere close to being done. *sigh*
13 comments:
Oh I'm first :)
The border of that shawl is gorgeous!!!
I love knitted on borders. I think they look simply stunning!!!
Yes it is a lot of work, but let me offer you some comfort... I have a Pi shawl with 1152 stitches... my border repeat eats 6 stitches... I have to do 192 repeats of it... and it is a wide border... it has 35 stitches in each row...
So each repeat has 420 stitches, and so my border is over 80'000 stitches.
I'll trade you your border any day :)
Oh and I've not started on it yet as I ran out of yarn and of course the extra I got isn't the same shade!!!
Cheers Eva
But she's oh so pretty...
The main thing with dealing with so many stitches is to not make any mistakes because ripping back is heartbreaking.
I don't know about NOWHERE close to being done. Maybe not super close, but closer than you were! And it's gorgeous!
It's really gorgeous. The pattern is fantastic, & you're executing it really beautifully.
Stupid Barbie (Doll, not shawl.)
Ooh, you can actually see what it looks like now! Very pretty.
Well you may not be close to begin done, but that is one gorgeous shawl. That stitch pattern is one of my favorites, I fully intend to use it in a pattern one day.
Have fun with the new camera!
Gorgeous work there! I can't wait to see it finished.
But it's so gorgeous! Keep on keepin' on. It'll be done one of these days and will be gorgeous.
BTW, there's a learning curve with a new camera. Every new thing I learn, I have to reinforce with a few uses before it really stays with me. The great thing about digital cameras: you can take and throw away 400 pictures if you need to. It doesn't cost a cent for processing or film to see what doesn't work!
You can DOOOOO EEET!!
I love your shawl, it's gorgeous. Edging goes pretty fast and it's fun, too. Good luck with that new camera.
The Barbie shawl is really beautiful - I can't wait to see it done!
Huh, I thought you were aiming for a pink jellyfish. I mean, those knitted snail-like things were a huge hit on Knitty, so I assumed you were trying for a spin-off.
Actually, that pattern is quite lovely, as is the edging. And you really are on the home stretch! It's just a longish stretch.
By the way, I didn't remember that you made the peacock shawl -- it is GORGEOUS.
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