Put a check mark in that to-do box, because Lighthouse is done.
I started off the week bringing Lighthouse to work and to this week’s knitting groups. I didn’t work on it exclusively, but I did put in quite a bit of time, and it just never seemed to go anywhere. By Wednesday, I swore I was still at 2/3 done and 1/3 to go, even though I knew that couldn’t be the case.
So Friday night, I sat down with it again, and knit and knit and knit, and still swore that I wasn’t getting anywhere, and then all of a sudden, I was.
So I brought it out to Enjoy Centre knitting today, and even though it took me about two hours, I finished off the last bit and kitchenered the border together.
We got back from errands around 4:30, so I didn’t waste any time. I don’t like leaving the wash-and-block part of a project too long. Yes, blocking takes quite a bit of time more often than not, but it’s better to do it on a project-by-project basis than let it pile up. (That’s also how I like to approach dishes, and I’m trying that approach with the weeds that are starting to poke through in the front bed again. I suppose it’s the whole ‘it’s easier to keep a house clean than it is to clean it’ mentality I grew up with…)
Before hitting the water, Lighthouse was 32″ diameter. You can see the pattern, but it lacks crispness, and the border is all kinds of frumpy. Add water, wires, pins, and over an hour’s work…
48″ across, and I could have probably stretched it a touch more, but this seemed to be okay. Can you imagine if I’d had enough yarn to do the full fourth section AND the larger border? We’d probably be talking 6′ in diameter! The patterns are now very crisp. I had to do a little finagling with the multi-wrap stitches in the fourth section, but I did get them all evened out. I’m just loving my Inspinknity flexible blocking wires. The Knitpicks ones are great for straights, but nothing does curves or fine work like these.
This is a very forgiving pattern. There are innumerable places in the fourth section where I completely messed up, but it still looks good. It looks like it ought. I’m happy with the way it turned out, and I hope the Wednesday night ladies are too. Not sure what we’re going to do with it, but I know whoever ends up with it will be very happy with it.
