love, friday (two weeks late and on a sunday)

• Love going to church this morning after not attending in many weeks. I don't know why this surprises me, but it was like going home.
• Love Eden's wedding shawl. It's growing and growing and growing because I'm knitting and knitting and knitting on it everyday.* I can't put it down to even blog much lately; we're in countdown mode here!

• Love knitting on Eden's wedding shawl at church today. Love that this opened up a conversation with a new member who is in the process of moving back to Minnesota from Jamaica and was excited to learn that knitting in church is "okay." (Unitarian Universalists aren't usually bothered by such things...)
• Love that Kristina's wedding is THIS WEEKEND and I'M GOING! Santa Fe, here I come! (sans "entourage," be still my knitting heart...)

• Love picking up two insanely gorgeous balls (1750 yards) of deep red laceweight yarn at Needlework Unlimited last night. Punch card reward!
• Love summer cooking and eating. Love picnics in the park. Love feeding (teeny!) champagne grapes to both of my kids (they're the perfect size for the fruit-crazed Baby Girl and just awesome enough for the non-fruit-eating-Jackson to be interested).

• Love listening to the audiobook "Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven." So awesome. I can't stop wanting to pack my backpack and get on a plane to China.

• Love root beer floats.

love, friday (two weeks late and on a sunday)

* Talk to me about blocking lace, Knitters. I mean, I've done it before (several times) but am wondering if there is some way to predict the growth after blocking. The finished shawl is supposed to be 60" long (blocked and with border) but I only have about 36" after completing all 10 repeats of the pattern (so the border will add another 6" or so). That gives me *maybe* 42" pre-blocked. Obviously, I'm just adding repeats now, but this is going to throw off my border stitches and I'm not sure how far to go to ensure I'll reach a decent size. I have gauge!!! Thoughts?