And it’s done!

With any project, there comes a time where it is done – if you have completed the whole pattern or not.

This is what unblocked lace looks like, not very nice.

I had reached the end of the leaves chart and I was noticing that I was going through the yarn very quickly. Although I have the same yardage the pattern called for, I was working in  linen, not lace weight wool. So I cut out the last 6 rows of that chart and moved on to the final border chart.Although I didn’t add the number of stitches called for it felt like I was knitting over 600 stitches in a row. I never bothered to count – it would be too depressing.  Putting in 4 rows of the 5 rows of beads also got to be a chore. I simply wasn’t enjoying the knitting anymore.

So I stopped, I just bound it all off and then made the executive decision to not crochet a lacy border.Blocking wires, pins and crazy blocking pad.  I know, it’s hard to see the details when using a children’s alphabet mat. I do have nine grey blocks, but rather than buy more of those, I use this set which I already have. It is a little harder because the letters and numbers fall out. So the picture is hard on the eyes, but my intention is to block, not have a pretty picture.Linen after blocking is like cardboard! I need to ‘rough it up’ before actually wearing.I’m glad I didn’t make it any longer, I don’t like my shawls too big.I do like the sparkle of the beads, it did take a lot more time but well worth it.I will probably also wear it like this, bandana style.

Enough lace shawls for a while, I have some smaller projects coming up.