Race to the finish

No, it's not that I was speed-knitting. I was racing the yarn to the end. When I finished the last bit of the edging on the star shawl last night at 10:45 (there was no way I could have stopped when I was that close to being finished!), this is how much yarn I had left.
Once I can see through a ball of yarn, it starts to feel like a nail-biter to me. It wasn't really; there was plenty left to finish the edging, but no way could I have squeaked another repeat in the body of the shawl out of this one. Of course, I knew that I had another skein of this yarn tucked away in case of emergencies, but it really would have made me cranky to break into a whole new skein of yarn just for a couple of yards (I'm petty that way), so I'm glad it worked out the way it did.

The girls and I got home a little while ago, after taking Younger Daughter to her Irish dance lessons, and stopping at Target on the way home to pick up costumes for both girls for their spring concert. I put the shawl in to soak while I made pizzas for dinner (mmm....), and once I was done, I got the girls started on homework and headed into the guest room to block that baby. Forty (back-breaking, knee-bruising; am I the only one who finds blocking to be a painful physical process?) minutes later, it was done.
(That corner is looking wonky, now that I see the picture; must go fix it...)

It blocked as a rather attenuated triangle, rather than an even-sided one, which I very much prefer in my triangular shawls, as it turns out (who knew?). Of course, as always, the edging just has me all a-tingle.
Scrumdiddlyumptious, no?
Love it.

So, to recap. This is another one of Anne's amazing patterns, the Star of Evening Triangle. I knitted it with Lanas Puras Melosa lace weight (100% merino), in the Fern Green colorway, on size 3 Addi Turbos. The yarn came from One Planet Yarn and Fiber; they were wonderful about getting it to me quickly, and making sure I had plenty (that's also where I got the yarn for Boing). I love working with people that friendly! And of course, as always, it's a blast to work with Anne, totally aside from how much I love her patterns; it just doesn't seem like someone could be that nice, but she really is.

I do have a new project on the needles, but I'll save that for another day. I'm still at the beginning stage, where I'm not feeling the pull of the over-the-hump, more-than-halfway-there, it's-all-downhill-from-here stage of knitting. I know I will, but in the meantime, I'm thinking that tonight may be a spinning night, as I've been wanting very much to finish the second half of the Rabbitworks roving; I'm thinking that the yarn might make a nice hat or a pair of mitts for Older Daughter for our cold-weather trip this summer (and yes, that is a teaser). I've been listening to book that is an old favorite on my iPod while driving and knitting recently, and have found that I can listen while I spin, too, which is very restful and soothing (the book? one of Bujold's from the Vorkosigan saga, called Memory), so that is something to look forward to, after a day spent grading, and with stacks more to go.

But first, I must get the girls to bed. You may imagine the theme music from Psycho here; I certainly do.