...but enough about the ring

Thank you all for your congratulations and your compliments on the ring. (Apologizes for the fuzziness of the picture, by the way. I was holding my hand up against J's chest--because he was wearing a black shirt, the only dark background we could find at the time--and I had to have my father actually take the picture, on account of my still being too shaky to take it on my own. I guess in the end both J and I were still too excited to really hold still.)

There is still a lot of excitement about The Engagement, and it still hasn't fully sunk in, but I know that soon enough the planning will start for the wedding and I'll miss this initial stage of shock/disbelief/joy/excitement/etc. Just trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

(And now, we return to our regular knitting content, already in progress.)

All this week I have been knitting furiously on that lace item you got a peek at last week. I think I mentioned that it's a shawl, but I don't think I did a good enough job of explaining beyond that, so here's full disclosure. This is the pattern (Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark for Fibertrends) and yarn (Misti Alpaca Lace) that I purchased at Rosie's Yarn Cellar on our trip to Philadelphia a few weeks ago. After a few false starts, this has turned into my first successful piece of lace knitting, and I've decided that it will be a birthday gift for my mother, who turns 29 again (okay, maybe she's 39 now that she's got an engaged daughter) this weekend. I feel pretty confident in posting this because I'm just about 100 percent sure she won't be reading my blog. (Remember my mom? "What exactly is a blog?") As of this afternoon, I have just a little more than 10.5 repeats done of the body lace chart. I am doing the small version of the shawl (13 pattern repeats), so that means that I have until Sunday to complete just under 2.5 body pattern repeats, do all the edging rows, bind off, and block. Think it'll happen? I know she really won't mind if I need an extra day or two to finish it, but I'd really like to have it done. Then I'd be able to get back to her Mother's Day Pomotomuses. Not to mention that I haven't even measured my future MIL's feet for her Mother's Day socks. Yeah, I'm a bit behind.

Here's a little peek at the progress so far, with my best attempt to spread out the lace one-handed so you can see the design:

I am just loving this pattern, and I plan to knit up one for myself. I may do mine in fingering weight yarn instead of lace weight, if I can find a nice colorway that won't interfere with the lace pattern. The Misti Alpaca is delightful, and you can't beat the price. I just wish it didn't shed so much!

Remember how a while ago I mentioned that I was reversing the Pomatomus pattern? Well do you think I've forgotten about that. I did reverse it, but I'm still tinkering with the stitches a bit to try to get a better mirror image. Once I'm satisfied, Cookie (the designer) has given me permission to post the modifications needed for the reversal to this here blog. So keep an eye out for it. I'm hoping it'll be up in the next couple of weeks.

I'm off to my shawl knitting. Must. Finish. By. Sunday.