Finally completely finished....

... , may I present to you, the blocked Birch! It was 'a hell of a job', but now it's finished I think it was worth wile. I like the result, it's soft, warm and it has a luxurious feel. Something to wear on a wintermorning, when you're in your pyjamas on the couch. Otherwise I'm not quite sure what to do with it, and how to wear it. Like this


Or like this

Maybe I should buy a new coat that matches well with it..... Or maybe it will be in a closet for years, because I forget about easily. When I'm finishing a piece I'm usually already thinking about the next project. Working on something gives me the greatest pleasure! Uh, well, most of the time.

Blocking Birch

Tonight I have to sleep in my spare room, because my bed has been occupied by Birch. This was the only place I could find to block the shawl. I hope the 102 (?) pins won't ruin the matras.

Irma thought it a pity she couldn't enlarge one of my pictures. Lately I've been wondering what happened to my blog. Enlarging pictures was possible untill a few months ago. I don't know what went wrong. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

Such a lovely day....

.... and I'm sitting behind my computer! Although I didn't have to work today, I haven't been outside a lot. This morning I had an appointment with the chimney-sweeper (yes, they still exist, he was even wearing a high black hat!). He would arrive between 9 and 12, but as often happens, it was after 12.30 when he came by.
Anyway, I had a lot of time to make a picture of the (unblocked) Birch-shawl...

.... and a picture of the first Go With The Flow Sock.

I love that heel!

Finally my free copy of Interweave Knits arrived. It's the summer edition. Hmmm, a bit late.... But I was glad to find a pair of socks in it with a lace pattern. I'd bought some Mega Boot Stretch-yarn, but didn't want to knit the ordinary socks I've knitted so many times. And these IK Go With the Flow Socks are really fun to knit! I'm always a bit scared of english patterns, but this one isn't hard at all. The heel is the easiest heel I knitted ever. And it looks great! No funny holes near the ankle this time!

And wanna know how my other lace project is doing? The Birch shawl? It's finished!!!! Finally!!! I'll post a picture soon, now my problems with my camera are over. Lately the pictures I made were not very sharp. But I think I've solved the problem.

Update

I almost feel guilty, having not blogged for such a long time. It feels like truancy! I didn't finish anything during the last weeks, but I just made some pictures of the Birch-shawl and the skirt I'm sewing. Birch is finally coming to an end, there are now only 100 stitches left. Maybe that sounds like a lot, but I started with 299.... And I'm getting really bored with this shawl so it's about time. This is what it looks like now

The skirt is quite a lot of work too. I didn't realize that all these seams (10!) would cost so much time. But I think it's going to look nice, when it's finished. Very feminin!

Hope to show you something finished in a few days. Don't know why I'm so slow. I've so much time to knit, sew and do other things. The lovely weather of the past week I have to blame, I think.