Picture time

Hm... Suddenly got a sketchy little ditty float through my head... some thirty years ago, when my son was little, there was a short five minute TV spot/show, hosted by Bill Cosby, called "Picture Time" - the ditty was something like, "It's Picture Time, it's Picture Time....Time to... Picture with me.... " repeated... Then it showed a couple of pictures, and you either picked the one that went with the others, or didn't go, or something simple like that.  You could send away for a booklet of pictures to work along with the TV spots... Highly educational (well, besides being a comedian, he *was/is* a teacher).  I never sent away, but got my son to participate watching and guessing and pointing at the screen...

Anyway, I digress (and hope I can get the little tune out of my head soon).

So, I have been meaning to share a picture of my hand - yes, the middle finger is still quite sore. There is still scabbing and healing going on under the surface; I think I may have a permanent lump of skin embedded or buried under the new skin.  Which is also still quite thin and regrowing, so it is still very tender in places.  But to look at now, it hardly shows at all.  So, here is how it looked when I finally decided it could stay unbandaged:

I titled that picture, "kind of icky still" - you can see how it is still a little red (and would sort of bleed a little tiny bit now and again)

Then, it started to heal up quick - within a couple days of that picture, it looked like:

And now, I won't even bother taking a picture, because it hardly shows at all.  Yes, in person, you can see it, but no matter how good my digital camera is, you can still only get so close...

On to the rain barrel:

Not much else to say about that - I pretty much talked about it in my other post.  Simple enough construction; found the basic directions via Pinterest.  Some one pinned a picture of one, and clicking through I found the directions, and lots more.  Showed it to hubby, and - well, you can see the result.

Another idea I got via Pinterest (can't recall if it was directly, or one thing leading to another) was a potato post.  That is our next major outdoor project.  Started out, the person talked about how they got the idea from "living fence posts" they'd seen in Mexico.  Using living trees as fence posts.  Then, the person adapted the whole idea, and basically, you make a cylindrical form from chicken or fencing wire, place straw in the bottom and up the sides if the holes are larger, then you layer in compost/dirt and potato seed.  (seed potatoes, with the eyes).  Point the eyes toward the outside edges... then keep layering dirt and potato... The plant grows out the sides of the cylinder, and the potatoes grow in the middle.  No digging required at harvest time - just tip over the forms, spread out the dirt, and gather the potatoes!  Great space saver idea when you don't have a lot of garden space. :)

Now, I will share pictures of the shawl I'm making.  I was debating making it a mystery knit along.  But, I asked around a bit, and it seems that the novelty of mystery knits is waning... There are still a few around - Renee of Goddess Knits is running another one starting in June; (signups have started already - remind me to share the link in case anyone wants it)- but mostly people are shying away from ones that they don't know the designer well, or they wait to see what the end product is like.  They like the idea of the KAL, though.  But even with that, they're finding a lot of people are treating it like a race...

Anyway, I was asked if I would share, and I think I will.  I haven't gotten far - the joy of designing can mean a lot of tinking -  right now, I've had to rip back two rows, and now go thoroughly over the row that is on the needle, because I dropped a stitch, and my kitty chose that moment to stick her head in the cable and pretend she was strangling... Just bad timing... Anyway, I am on row 20 of the first repeat of 28 rows... I'll see how it looks after two repeats, but I think I'll add a third.  I also would have liked to add more beads along the diagonals, but wasn't sure how they would really turn out.  And, this lace yarn is a little more fragile than most I've used.  I love it, I knew I would... But it is fragile, I'm finding.  It is from Istex Lopi - called Einband.  Yes, the very same stuff that you make a wonderfully warm Lopi sweater from, that some people think it "scratchy", in a lace weight.  :)

Ok, first picture - taken of the end of the shawl, showing the shaping, but this is going to be the "top" side. I don't know how much to reveal, or talk about.... The shawl has a definite story behind it, but I kind of want each section to be completed before I share all the details.  The pattern will have lots of pictures added, to tell the story...













So, you can see the sloped edge.  You can't see the beads very well, though.  They are clear, with a silver lining.  Perfect for my plan!

Next picture, is of the other end - and you can see the challenges I had taking the picture.  I'm using a Susan Bates Silverado needle, and the cable is soft, but insists on curling... what you don't see in the picture above is me using my foot to hold the right side, since I had the camera in one hand, and my left hand holding the knitting ;)

The beads show up better.  You can still see that sloped side, but there is a garter stitch edging added.  And I realized why I was having so much trouble with the chart.  I added that garter edge, increasing at the outside end, and the center panel is increasing, but I had no decreases charted (or executed, because I didn't want them to be there) between the edging and the panel - so my chart was way off... the center panel moved (on paper) up and out, on the angle.  The edging increased at its own rate... but the total stitch count was off... Anyway, it is knitting up proper, but the chart would need a whole bunch of the "dreaded no stitch" symbols... So, I think I'll leave the first section uncharted for ease of knitting by all levels of ability... The first section is the only place this garter edging will be.  And yes, it is crucial to the design/story.

I'm planning that both ends of the shawl will be knitted from the outer edge in, and grafted in the middle.  That also means, the edgings will have to be mirrored - that is, the garter piece is on the right hand side of this edge, with right side facing.  But when knitting the opposite end, the garter stitch edge will have to be on the left hand side.  Because that is the bottom of the shawl....

Yes, I'm being somewhat mysterious :)