Block Party!

I think most knitters would agree, a knitter's idea of a block party is significantly different than what most people would think...I finally blocked some finished knitting projects.  I had so much to block that my small set of Knitpicks foam blocks wasn't enough to get the job done.  I had my mind on completing this huge task and so last week I went to Target and found these children's foam blocks:

And, now, some blocking progress!

I finally cast-off Romney's Kerchief....I couldn't get myself to do the recommended cast-off...it seemed like it would be just too time consuming. Last week, I decided to go up to size 10 needles and cast-off.  A bit of a risk, as I was almost out of yarn but it all worked out fine.

My Not At Sock Summit Socks...I loved knitting with The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga yarn although I was "meh" about the pattern....size 1 needles too...a never ending project but very nice results!

My Rose Lace Stole!! I love this! I love the lace pattern! I really love rectangular shape! I want to knit another rectangular shawl ASAP!

Andrea's Shawl - Loved this pattern too!  Such a pretty combination of green! And, surprise! Look!  The lace looks mostly like the pattern photos! (I thought I was making all kinds of mistakes!)




What did I learn from my block party? Wow, blocking can really accenuate lace patterns! And, all of my shawls blocked to the correct size.  Even the Rose Lace Stole which I was soooo worried about.  Now, to get some photos of all these finished projects onto Ravelry! 

Rose Lace Stole - Subway Knits KAL - Progress Update

I'm knitting along with Maria aka @venusfueri on Twitter and several others on the Rose Lace Stole by Susanna IC. Maria has a Podcast called Subway Knits (one of my favorites...you can find it on itunes and is the moderator of the Subway Knits Podcast Group...which is where I found the knit-along.

I love this yarn! It is Malabrigo Lace Weight in a medium to dark blue called Paris Nights. And I love the rectangular shape of this wrap. As a general rule, I would prefer to wear a rectangular shape wrap over a traiangular shaped one. I can't wait to see the flower pattern that I'm almost ready to start. So far, the pattern is relatively simple...Six more rows until I get to the lace chart...I've been saying that for almost a week now but, unfortunately, the last week of school and ballet recitals have gotten in the way of good, quality, concentrate on knitting lace time. But get back to it I will. Oh, and there is this small problem:

Somehow in the first repeat, I knit 6 stitiches instead of 5 and, generally, I don't notice it until the end of the row. And then I have to tink! (I'd never be able to pick up the stitches if I frogged a row!) This has probably happened now about half a dozen times on the first half! That's a lot of tinking! I find I have to really concentrate on the knit row and then I usually repeat the pattern back to myself on the purl row just to make sure I still have the pattern correct.

So, are you a tinker or a frogger? How do you make sure you stay on track with projects like this? Share with me, please!