July 08, 2006Blog! Blog Like the Wind!*
The other thing I accomplished this weekend was the finishing and blocking of River. I cast off Friday morning, and this morning I wove in the (two!) ends and threw her in the sink with some lavendar eucalan for a little soak. After a quick spin in the washer (spin cycle only, to get rid of the excess water), it was out to the side porch for blocking. One of the better features of the house that we rent is an abundance of deck with an abundance of deck furniture. Our landlord's picnic table makes an excellent blocking surface, and the oppressive hot, dry weather we've been having ensures that the job is quickly done.
The stole was 50" unblocked, and when I tossed it over my shoulders, it really didn't seem long enough. I wasn't hopeful that blocking would resolve the situation, and had started making plans to knit a border with some yarn that is in a different dyelot. Because of this I wasn't as excited as I usually am for the blocking process to finish. When the shawl was dry I very unceremoniously removed the pins and prepared to bring it indoors. When I lifted it from its blocking beach towel, however, everything changed. It's truly miraculous what blocking does to lace. It is grogeous - a level of stunning that I was completely unprepared to see. I took it inside and put it on and - miracle of miracles - it was also the perfect length. The points hit at exactly the right place on my fingertips. I love it. Blocking added only 3" of length, but that was what the stole needed. It is perfect. I love it. Photoshoot to follow...
In main | river stole
Comments
River looks BEAUTIFUL! I knit River last fall and wore it several times during the spring. Nice alterations to the pattern. Posted by: Brenda at July 10, 2006 04:48 PMThe site looks wonderful as does River. It's just gorgeous! Posted by: Christina at July 10, 2006 09:43 AMFirstly, the site looks WONDERFUL. Very nice, very clean, bright and clean enough to really let the blog posts be the focal point. As for river, well, what is there to say but "yum" I hope I'll get to see it in person soon. ~m Posted by: Marnie at July 9, 2006 03:53 PMHey, great design! Love the clean feeling, makes the perfect backdrop for all the pretty pictures you'll be putting up of your FOs. Can't wait to see River on you. Posted by: MJ at July 9, 2006 03:03 PMI'm glad to see you are back blogging again, and I do love the redesign! (first time commenter, I think, but I am a longtime lurker...) Posted by: Liz K. at July 9, 2006 11:26 AMRiver looks beautiful. Although a pink river would be a bit disturbing. It looks more like fresh cotton candy to me. So glad you're back. Posted by: Laura at July 9, 2006 11:15 AMYour new blog design looks great! I just picked up a copy of Greetings from Knit Cafe. I love the hoodie and the bikini. Glad you're back to blogging. Mind of Winter was one of the first knitting blogs I really started reading regularly. Take care, Liz Posted by: Liz at July 9, 2006 10:11 AMOK, I'm in IE now and it looks the same as in my other browser- the pretty blue/grey is the heading section colors, and the blog entries are still centered. Looks great! Posted by: Mary-Heather at July 9, 2006 09:47 AMThe blog looks great- very, dare I say it... wintry! I think I'm seeing it differently than everyone else, though... I use ATT/Yahoo for my browser, and the background is white (I thought this was on purpose, you know... snow, but then someone mentioned a pale blue/grey color), and the blog entries are centered. Again, I thought that was on purpose, but then someone mentioned it above and later said it was fixed. Looks great, either way! And I love the "the book" section; I've been meaning to do that, too- thanks for the inspiration! Posted by: Mary-Heather at July 9, 2006 09:35 AMThe new layout is great. And my goodness that stole is heavenly! So we get to hear from you more often now, right? :) Posted by: Vicki at July 9, 2006 09:00 AMI love your redesign and it looks great in Firefox *and* IE. The only issue I see with IE is that the blog entries are centered. However, it's perfect in Firefox. I love the look now! Your "River" is wonderful and I love the color you chose! Posted by: Janet at July 9, 2006 08:20 AMBeautiful! Posted by: Moni at July 9, 2006 07:56 AMJulia, it's beautiful! I have KSH in the "Drab" colorway and I'm thinking it's obviously not going to pop the way the brilliant colors do. I suppose I was in a more "neutral" frame of mind when I bought it, so I might have to rethink the color. I usually tend to buy color, and I was probably trying to tone down the rainbow that's my stash a little. Your blog is crisp and clean, and I like how you can link to the sidebar items, which I've got to work on. I'm viewing it through Firefox, by the way. Posted by: Leslie at July 9, 2006 06:28 AMThe blog looks great and I'm on IE right now so you must have fixed the problem. Enjoy your new home. Posted by: margene at July 9, 2006 06:02 AMi like the new blog layout, very crisp and inviting! river is gorgeous, too. a fushia river, so passionate and delicate. Posted by: blossom at July 9, 2006 05:36 AMI love River!! It's beautiful! Your blog looks great. I am using Safari. Posted by: Michelle at July 9, 2006 04:40 AMRiver is beautiful...I quickly checked to see if I have yarn for it and I do! Thanks for the great idea! jane Posted by: jane at July 9, 2006 04:05 AMoh it's beautiful! it's got to feel great to have it all done too! the new digs look really nice as well. i usually use Firefox and i didn't see any issues. i also tried IE (v6 SP2 on XP) and found a few really small ones with the images: - your header image and your 2004 gallery image have a 1 px blue border around them they're all really minor and it's quite impressive that you got so close in the 2 browsers. i manage web development for a living and it's usually a fight to get the developers to be so disciplined! Posted by: jody at July 9, 2006 03:58 AMOh, River is FAB!!! I must say in my flat I don't really have where to block. I typiclly iron over a towl and cover it with a dump cloth...or using cloth pegs I lay things flat on my lines outside on the patio. Posted by: Orli at July 9, 2006 01:06 AMI really like the new design. Especially the pale blue/grey color. I just have one suggestion for the banner image at the top. If you save the graphic as a gif instead of a jpg, you won't get the grainy distortion around the title lettering "Mind of Winter. Good luck to you. Posted by: sr. at July 8, 2006 09:40 PMThe blog design looks fabulous, Julia! Love how clean and open it feels!! And River is beautiful! Posted by: Carrie at July 8, 2006 09:20 PM |
