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Wednesday 9 November 2016

FO: Taboo

Hi everyone, how've you all been?  Winter is on it's way here and as the temperature has been dropping and the nights drawing in I've wanted to do nothing but curl up and knit or spin.  I've got quite a lot done so I figured it was about time I checked in here and showed off my work.

So, as of my last post I was eagerly awaiting the first clue for the Boo Knits Halloween MKAL, Taboo.  That is now all done and dusted and I very proudly finished it a few days after the final clue was released.  The schedule was pretty fast paced, with clues arriving every few days which I personally really liked because it meant I wasn't juggling a second project in between clues.  I'll confess that I wasn't really loving the first clue, 8 repeats of the same column of lace started to get old quite quickly but subsequent clues were much more fun.

The second clue brought in the second colour and I was eager to see how it would be incorporated.  I'd been a little worried that my DIY dye job wouldn't work out, but I'm really pleased with the way it looks and I'm glad I didn't add in a whole bunch of other colours.  I love the wavy effect that the little stripes introduce without it being too jarring.

I'm also pretty happy with my beads, I had toyed with the idea of matching them to the darkest pink of my variegated yarn but I couldn't find any that I liked so I went with an ivory colour instead.  They are quite subtle but are not completely lost in the fabric.  There are loads of them too, so my shawl makes a very satisfying clattering sound when I plonk it down on a table.

When the final clue arrived I saw that it ended with the dreaded picot bind off.  I strongly considered skipping it and just using a crochet bind off instead but in the end I decided to be a good girl and complete the pattern as written.  On the 3rd day of binding off I very much regretted this decision and realised that frankly I'm not really all that into picots so I won't be bothering again.  Lesson learned, but I do feel a certain amount of pride that I actually got to the end without throwing the whole thing out of the window.

So, interminable bind off done I blocked out my masterpiece and prepared to wear proudly....except I can't because it's been claimed!

The whole time I was knitting this Felicity kept asking things like "Mummy is that my pink sclarf?" and "Mummy is my pink sclarf finished?".  It turns out that she was entirely serious and every time I've tried to wear it she goes bananas and pulls it off me.  I'm hoping she'll forget about it soon, but for the time being I have to concede that she does look mighty cute in it, even if no 2 year old is really in need of their very own 100% silk scarf!  I do have plenty of leftovers though, so if it turns out I don't have enough left for a full on adult shawl then I may consider whipping her up a slightly more toddler friendly neck covering instead.

Cheeky little beggar!