Almost FO

Okay, totally excited over here. Why, you ask? Because the Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl is almost done. Yipped skippie!
I started the last chart this evening. I have about 40 more charted rows to do (20 of which are purl-backs) and then the few rows of garter stitch that form the bottom border. Then casting off. Then the magic of blocking. Then the most difficult Christmas present left on my list will have a big red check mark next to it! Hooray!

Then there's just, you know, everything else. o.O.

But with the Shetland Garden almost complete, I allowed myself to make a purchase I'd been putting off. Take a look; I'll wait. Scheherazade. You'll need to scroll down a bit and look for the pretty Siamese kitty.

Robb's sister is getting married in March, and I will be using that shawl to dress up my plain black cocktail dress to meet Robb's mother's specifications. She wants formal wear. I was fine with that until I realized she meant "prom dress." I'm 26. I no longer need to wear prom dresses. In fact, I didn't wear prom dresses to my proms. But anyway. Black velvet cocktail dress and pretty plum-purple shawl. Yarn is:

Skacel's Merino Lace. 100% wool, very very fine. I've used thicker embroidery floss. I'm trying not to be too intimidated. It'll be gorgeous. I know it will.

I will cast on tomorrow, when I go to Mom's to do laundry. The Shetland Garden is for her, after all, and although she kind of picked the pattern, it is meant to be a surprise, so I don't want to have it with me when I go.

Winding up the 1375 yards in this skein, however, brought home a simple fact to me. If I'm going to keep going with this whole lace thing, I need a swift. Currently, my swift has been conveniently made up of my knees. They're attached to me, fairly difficult to forget, and moderately obvious when I sit down, even to me. And I thought they were working fine.

Until today. Oy. The first thousand yards or so was fine. The weight of the skein held the remaining yarn in place around my knees, and I could just gently feed the yarn up into my ball winder. Of course, as always, it got trickier as the yarn got lighter. Which was a problem because that happened with 300 yards or so left around my knees, instead of 20 yards or so, with the sock yarns I've been using. As I said, oy. The crick in my shoulders still hasn't quite faded.

So. Maybe that will be my treat to myself when I receive my substantial raise next paycheck. Suggestions on brands, etc? I'd like something that can fold up small and be stored, and has a goodly range, as it will get used for both sock yarns and lace yarns. I'm more interested in function than form at this point. Suggestions appreciated.

For now: a little bit of relax-time, and then bed-time.