Preparing the Plumage

I made some little swatches today for testing the overdye colors. The big one was the actual swatch for the knitting of the Peacock Feathers Shawl itself. I learned the value of swatching when I made the, Shetland Tea Shawl, the brown one at the top of the page, and it came out an entire foot smaller in diameter than it was supposed to. Needless to say, I hadn't swatched. Now, look, another advantage of swatching! Less work for me today! Now, why on Earth did I go through with knitting this shawl, in the first place, after looking at that swatch and seeing the scareigated lace, I have no idea. But, I think it will be a fun experiment, so I don't mind too much.

I've also pulled out another UFO. The Lace Dream Stole, from The Best of Knitter's Shawls and Scarves. I have less than six pattern repeats left to knit, but each repeat is thirty-two rows long. It is a beautiful pattern, Ostrich Plumes, but it is a huge stole and pretty dull to knit. I worked on that a bit today. It's going to be pretty in this fuzzy, pink mohair, a little scratchy, though. PH doesn't mind.

Lace Dream.

I leave you with a photo I took of the Tennessee state flower.

The wild iris. Pretty, no?