Monday, February 14, 2005

Happy Valentine's Day!



My Dad never fails to send me roses. What a sweetheart. Though I must say, I have never really gotten over the horror of working at a florist during the Valentine's Day rush. For several years, the sight of roses gave me the willies. I'm to the point now where I can appreciate them again, but even thinking about those three Valentine's Days when I was at the florist sends a cold shiver down my spine. It wasn't a very pleasant place to work during the best of times, but Feb. 10-14 were the worst. We processed about 400 dozen roses each V-Day season, and each had to have the end cut, thorns stripped, and either be inserted in a vial of water and wrapped in paper, or arranged in a vase. And delivered. Those of you who received roses (or other flowers) today, think a sympathetic thought for your florist.

In other news, here's the finished alpaca shawl. I believe I mentioned that I had only been spinning for a couple months when I made the yarn for this project. It really, really shows. The bottom half of the shawl is thicker and fuzzier than the top half. I was hoping it wouldn't be too obvious after washing, but as you can see, the yarn didn't change much.



The shawl is 56" x 56" x 80". Pretty big- that's a queen-size bed it's on. I may wear it around some and see if the top fluffs any more. I'm somewhat disappointed with it as it is now.

I "started" another project yesterday. This is a partially finished sweater that a co-worker asked me to finish for her. Two and a half years ago. I feel a little bad that it's taken me so long to get to this, but since she started it 13 years ago, I figure she can't be in too much of a rush to have it finished!

This is a picture of how it looked when she gave it to me. The back is mostly done, and the front is about half done.



I finished the back last night, and got the front to where the neck decreases start. This is definitely not a project that I would have picked out for myself. The pattern is nice, but the yarn is a weird pinky purple color, and it's thick 4-ply/2-ply cabled cotton. It kind of reminds me of Kitchen Cotton that I use for dishcloths. It's splitty and rough.



The stitch pattern is nice, though. Sort of basketweave, with crossed twisted stitches.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is an awesome pattern for the shawl! and do I see little Emma feet in the corner there? :)

Anonymous said...

Things are about to get real busy around here, so I'm afraid I'll forget on Friday....so while it's fresh in my mind, I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY. And it looks like you've got yourself all taken care of with some incredible presents!!! Wonderful. (Norma -- http://nownormaknits2.typepad.com)

Sue said...

Thanks! I took the picture while standing on a chair and holding the
camera above my head. I couldn't see the camera screen, of course, so I ended up taking about 10 shots before I got one that was good! It probably would have worked better if the chair I was on wasn't a wheeled office chair that swivels...