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You are welcome to copy any of my designs, as long as you do not take credit for them yourself. I am very happy for you to sell them. If I have used anyone else's design, I always try to give credit where it is due. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will put things right.


This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

WOYWW - 88

It is not a coincidence that my desk has not changed at all since last week.  In fact, this is one of the photos I posted last week, the reason being that all I have done is more and more knitting on this shawl, with a fair bit of backing to put right mistakes.  Having done this pattern once before, I really should have learned from my experiences then, but learning from experience is not my strong point.  It looks fantastic when done, but it is evil to do.  Not only was there a critical mistake in the pattern,, but another part could be read in several different ways, most of which make a mess of the design.  I am now working on the final part which is the outside lacy border, which goes all round in one very long piece, with 600 rows to complete - yes that is SIX HUNDRED.  It is a 20 row pattern with the number of stitches varying between 19 and 25, depending on the row.  I cannot do any of it if I am disturbed in any way.  I can't talk, and have to be very careful what music I put on to avoid getting sidetracked.  The first time I did this shawl for my daughter nearly caused a divorce, and the loss of good friends.  We all survived, but total concentration is the only thing that works.

The only other thing remotely crafty that I have done this week is to buy a couple of things.  I have finally decided that I definitely NEED a new light box for embossing and parchment work - it is an A4 LED box which puts out far less heat than my original A5 kit, which actually melted my embossing mat.  Can't wait for that to arrive - I had the embossing and pricking mats for it for Christmas.

My other purchase is a new 2 terrabyte (big) external hard drive to take all my media stuff.  My existing one has done well, but is now struggling with the amount I am asking it to do.  I copy all my CD ROM's to the external drive and then put the originals away (I do not get rid of them as that could cause copyright problems).  That enables me to flip from one to another and move images however I want to create what I want.  I can open several discs at the same time.  I also store all my photos on the external drive and all my music.  Again, I can pull any of my photos into any card creation I fancy, edit them and put them together with anything else.  I am considering installing My Craft Studio on the external drive which would allow me to carry it around and use it on any computer I want to work on.

Sorry I did not get back to all of you last week, but knitting did take over my life.  Thank you to all those who visited me and left such lovely comments.  Don't forget to pop over to see Julia, who hosts all our desks at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

28 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Sounds as though you have taken on a mammoth task with this shawl. I have an external hard drive but it is for backing up to each day. I can see it would be very useful though to keep CD ROMs stored on on so several disks can be opened all at the same time and for storing photos - I burn them to disk periodically but that means I've got to search through several disks when I need a particular photograph - your way seems easier. Must think about it:) Elizabeth x #79

Karen said...

WOW lots of detailed pattern in your knitted shawl, but it is looking gorgeous :)
Have a great WOYWW,
Karen #58

Poppit said...

Wow - what a project! I wish I could knit! Good luck with your 600 rows... Poppit #75

Anonymous said...

I have to have total silence to be able to concentrate on knitting. Shame really, as all I can currently do are dishcloths!!! And even those take all my powers of concentration or I'll make a mistake!!

Hugs
brenda 89

Sheilagh said...

Looking forward to seeing the finished shawl, it looks beautiful.

HarmonySweetpea said...

Wow that is a lot of knitting. I tried to learn from mum a few years back. I have half a scarf in progress but never did finish. Mum knits whole scarfs in a day and shawls and all that. Its quite a talent to have. Thanks for sharing :-)

SDCrafts said...

Knitting a shawl - in a thin yarn too, I suspect - demands great concentration and oodles of time. So enjoy it and don't worry about what you are not doing. Thanks for popping by earlier. Shirley #52

SDCrafts said...

3-ply! I am in awe...

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Wow your spirit of persistence and industry is most impressive there, Maggie, well done!
thanks for sharing, and for popping by! Shaz in oz.x

Nicky said...

Oh I do admire you I cannot knit a scraf let alonge a pretty shawl as you are ~ Nicky no.9

karen said...

I do not know how to knit but that shawl sounds very very complicated. It is looking gorgeous already and I hope it wil not cause too much strife in your life this time around :)
Thanks for visiting!
xoxo Karen

okienurse said...

That shawl sounds awesome. Please post a pic after you get it done. I am so green with envy over the new external hard drive! I have an 80 gig internal, 320 gig external and I am coming close to needing more! OMG!
Vickie

Sue from Oregon said...

Ha! shopping is a very important party of being crafty! I have now switched to Mozy, which backs up all my stuff offsite. I feel better about that, but dont like paying for it!

Barbara Mason said...

I am so a knit one purl 2 knitter at best and will only knit anything square or rectangular & how many scarves can people still say thanks to!!!! From what can be seen that scarf looks divine!

Daniele said...

wow thats a serious amount of rows for a shawl, I knit about 4 shawls for the birth of my grandson but nothing as intriacte as that.....good luck
thanks for the peek
hugs

Anonymous said...

Fab knitting work, can't wait to see it finished!
and you got me thinking about an extra external hard drive.. mine is struggling way too much!!! That will teach me to keep all the super large photo files.. lol

Thanks for sharing!

Marlene x

Susan said...

Hi Maggie,
Can't wait to see the finished shawl. I am in awe of you as I cannot knit. Tried a scarf once on really big needles and it took me 6 months and was awful! Never wore it as it looked like it was made by a 5 year old! Speaking of 5 year olds, Miss 5 is loving school although on Tuesday said "I don't think I can manage school today, I am just too exhausted!" Gotta love it! Thanks for visiting.
Susan xxox #24
http://stamponme.blogspot.com/

Nicky said...

hi the pink thing on my desk is my i-phone in its case - my phone is never far from me lol - thanks for visiting

Starla said...

I do not knit, but I'm sure that it would cause great frustration as I'm a visual learner and to follow written directions that weren't correct, would most likely send me over the edge! Star 102

Sunshine Girl said...

Wow sounds like you are creating quite an heirloom there! I too never learn from mistakes - not always a good thing is it! Have fun.

Darcy Marshall said...

wow that sounds like a project and a half, you did it once and went back for more!! lol good luck with it, hope you post pics of it finished.

Leonie said...

Well done Maggie
thanks for sharing- looking forward to sesing the finished product!
happy belated WOYWW!
thanks for your lovely comments
xxx fairy leonie #21

Chrissie said...

Congratulations on your stamina... I think I would have given up long ago! It looks beautiful!
Chrissie

Theresa Plas said...

O Maggie! What a challenging project! I'm not a knitter (currently) but do love a snuggly wrap and this one looks like it will be lovely! Keep on counting and happy WOYWW!

Carola Bartz said...

This sounds like a big project! I know how long some knitting projects can take! And remember - Rome wasn't built in one day either.

K said...

I do the same with my external drive(s) - I have one for everything & another to do a second back up of photos and music - I nearly cried the one time that my external drive went funny & wouldnt let me open it, it had the only copy of some of my photos so I got another one just incase.

The fruit on my table was originally so there was always fruit that the kids could see & grab easily ... if they have to go looking for snacks they are far more likely to go for chocolate bars etc. But I have ended up having the fruit as snacks while crafting as well, right now the plums are ripe & smell divine, they wont last long with me sitting by them :)

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Dear dear Maggie your comments on my calligraphy were such a blessing to me thanks so much... you are most welcome to pop by and watch and yes am sad your place and mine are so far apart, such a shame that. but the dear inter-web does shorten the miles somewhat.. re details have added a bigger photo of capital as Lizzy asked for one so if you want to peek you can check it out, always end up with a PS these days...
love Shaz in oz,.x
http://calligraphycards-shazinoz.blogspot.com/2011/02/calligraphy-ah-early-days-are-here.html

Marjo said...

OMGosh time just got away from me this week. Now I can't remember where I've been. The columns look funny..lol Sorry to be so late visiting. Maybe I will just still till the next WOYWW...lo

Thanks for the peek and sharing, hugs,Lucky #2 Marjo