If there is ever an apocalypse.

I know we'll be warm..... and pretty 'cause damn! I rock!

The story of my Evenstar shawl, which officially began in the spring with the purchase of a fleece from a South African Meat Merino name Victoria (blog post A, B, C and D) and began as an actual story when I saw the pattern on Ravelry, has come to its full and final conclusion in the glory that is.....

This.......

I am in awe of the fact that I took wool, literally off the sheep's back and made something so beautiful....

I rule! That is all!

I'm so close I can taste it..... Sort of

My Evenstar shawl is nearly complete....


hrmmmmm.... Perhaps I should clarify my definition of "complete." I have finished the main body of the shawl and am now working on the border.... the vast, endless border that is the crowing glory of this shawl (I am doing an unbeaded version, so perhaps my "crown" is a little less lustrous than it could be).... I thought the last chart of the shawl was going to kill me. Each row of that final chart was 560 stitches (some over 600) and the chart was 71 rows.... If you do a little math, that equals around 40,000 stitches (I'm rounding). I shouldn't do math, it's bad for my knitting mojo.   As I crept higher up the chart, I could feel the excitement building... perhaps I could actually start one of the kids' back to school sweaters BEFORE they started school next week! or maybe even the cardigan that I've wound the yarn for... or finish a couple of patterns I've been working on.... or a hat.... or a cowl.... or something... something that was NOT what I was working on (which I love BTW. I don't want to give the wrong impression. I get very antsy near the end of a project, the urge to move on to something fresh is somewhat difficult to overcome). I finished row 67 (the last patterned row) and I knew I was close... three garter stitch rows and then only the border would remain. How bad could a border be???? I shouldn't have asked myself because then I started calculating exactly "how" bad it would be. I've knit a few items with attached borders, so I knew how they worked. A pattern of stitches is knit perpendicularly to the body of the item and attached on every right side row to the main body of the item by knitting a live stitch from the body together with the last stitch of the border or edging you are attaching....this means that for every live stitch you must complete two rows of the edging (right side and wrong side).......  This translates very badly for me and my calculations. There are 560 live stitches at the end of that last chart.... 560 stitches that need to be attached to the border. 560 stitches means I will have to complete roughly 1120 rows to complete the shawl... at an average of  18 stitches per row, that equals approximately...... TWENTY THOUSAND more stitches....

nearly complete my ass.

All that! and a pile of yarn.

Firstly, as promised ..... a picture of the yarn purchased on the trip. I visited a total of 11 yarn stores and 3 studios...and I barely touched the available fibre-y goodness on Vancouver Island..... I didn't purchase at every location, but very nearly.....

and now we're home. After a marathon drive of a total of 16 hours, we arrived home at 11:45pm Mountain time last night. I had not planned to drive the entire way (although, I'll be honest and say that I hoped I could), but the kids were beyond amazing and I wasn't tired in the slightest, so we pushed on.... and on. We stopped in Vancouver to meet my new little nephew Niko (he is adorable!) and then to grab dinner on the go in Kamloops and a quick potty break in Golden and that was it. The kids were quiet the entire trip (they talked amongst themselves, but didn't ask the dreaded "are we there yet").

I'm happy to be home, but sad that I left... We had a fabulous time.

TLOTPK, Part II

My month long tour of BC is nearing it's conclusion and I've decided to take a quiet moment to myself while the kids and dogs play outside before we head for the pool to update all of the places that I've knit (or brought my knitting to) since I arrived on Vancouver Island more than two weeks ago.

I did some knitting on my Dad's boat, but more often than not, just sat and enjoyed the sights and smells of the ocean (when he wasn't putting me to work hauling up prawn and crab traps)

I did some knitting while I watched the kids move from slightly scared and not able to swim to jumping into the deep end to retrieve golf balls from the bottom (Chey's still in waterwings, but the concept is still valid)

I did a little knitting while we were at various beaches collecting shells, but had more fun tipping rocks so that Chey could find crabs and other crustations

I did not knit while we drove around and gloried in the lush, green views and expansive ocean vistas.... due, mostly, to the fact that I did the vast majority of the driving.....

I most definitely did NOT knit while Kayaking

Opa and Cary took Eli for a couple of days for some quality time

Pirates Cove

I had a couple of days with Alex and Chey

I did not knit when we went out to Sydney Spit for the day.

I did knit a little bit when I took the kids to Gabriola Island and Parksville for the Day.

All in all, I had an amazing trip. I want to Thank my Dad and Caren for being such fabulous hosts and for putting up with the extra noise and mess for three weeks (they had the kids and dogs for a few days before I arrived). Here are a few more of my favorite vacation photos.....

I also bought a lot more yarn, but I'm saving THAT post until I get home.... along with progress on my shawl... it's coming along nicely.