Par-TEE (Part Two)

So the other Major Happening at the Sow's Ear party: the winding-up of the Lovely Daughter's afghan. The history - last year she made an ENORMOUS afghan for her beau (a lovely lad who watches a lot of sports with his cats and was delighted to have such a snuggy warm-up for the frozen winter nights we USED TO HAVE here in Wisconsin). But when it was finished, she loved it; unfortunately she had made it as his Christmas present and so it was; fortunately, SHE had knitted it, so she could make one for herself!

So she brought it along to work on at the party, and she made a Discovery. WAS there enough left in her final (and 8th) skein to finish the last few decreases? Or.....was she going to take after her mother (that would be me) and wind up running out with three decrease rows left? I've finally decided that that last teensy bit of the final row that is a different color is My Signature, which sounds much better than - I invariably run out of yarn just a tiny bit before the end of a shawl. Well...only if they're for me, actually; if I'm making them for someone else I plan better.

So we took this picture, showing how much she had left of both the afghan AND how much she had left on the skein. Would she make it? Would there be enough? I told her to knit faster; if you knit really fast surely you'll get to the end of the project before the end of the skein. (She didn't buy it.)

GOOD NEWS!

This is the afghan, held UP, held OUT, (held over her face because she hates being photographed). You can't see it all because she's about 5'3" (tall, by my standards) so it's longer than she is. It's also considerably wider than she is. But SHE DID IT! There was still skein left at the end of the afghan. ::WHEW::

Incidentally, there's a new institution at The Sow's Ear, one of which I heartily approve. See, there's a bell on the front porch (along with some chairs and nice places to sit in the lovely weather). And when someone finished a project, Heather goes out on the porch and Rings. That. Bell! So she held up Lovely Daughter's blankie, ran out and rang the bell, and everyone applauded wildly. I was SO proud!

Incidentally, here's what kind of party it was: she rang the bell not once, not twice, but three times during the evening, so you know this is one finishing-up kind of crowd. I guess there are lots of yarn shops (like, DUUUUH) but your humble blogger is absolutely tickled to have such a cozy little nest to go to. Oh - and it also has gobs and gobs of fabulous yarn of every stripe (get it? stripe? like Regia?) (sometimes I crack myself up) and all the needles and tchotches you need for knitting; many, many, MANY books and patterns, and a staff of brilliant, skillful, kind, helpful don't-laugh-at-you-no-matter-what folks, and a whole panoply classes for every "skill level". If you ever happen to be wandering through our "63 miles surrounded by reality" do NOT despair. There is a corner of the Community here with a chair saved for you.