Well, Zut Alors!

Which is French for dadgummit, goldurn, blimey, and other such family-friendly exclamations of annoyance.  I was going to be a good girl and not do any more Foreigner shawls, even though I’ve been thinking about a leaf-lace pattern and Tirnamardi’s famous hedges . . .  Ilisidi has one (two, actually), the assassin’s daughter has one, and then I got to thinking about little Irene and what a special young lady she is, and how nice this “Teal Feather” colored Malabrigo sock yarn would look against her dark skin, and you know what?  Rene-ji, this one’s for you, darling.  Even in the far future, Black lives matter.

This is the best picture I’ve gotten so far of the side of the shawl with all the kfb’s on it.  It has such a nice textural detail, and this is the version of it I frogged.  I threw a p1 between the kfb’s and the ssk on the newer version which makes it one stitch wider.  You know what?  I’m going to post the whole pattern for this little goodie right here:

Materials:
2-3 skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn, color Teal Feather
US6 (4.0 mm) 40-inch circular needle

Cast on 3 stitches
Row 1: k
Row 2: (kfb x3)
Row 3: k
Row 4: (kfb x3), k to end of row

Row 5: k until 6 stitches remain, kfb, yo, k2tog, p1, ssk
Row 6: k until 6 stitches remain, (kfb x3), p1, ssk

Repeat rows 5 and 6 until the shawl is the size you want.

Finish:
K3, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * until 3 stitches remain, yo, k3
Knit 3 rows. Bind off.

That’s it. That’s all there is to the pattern. Short, sweet, easily memorized.  I’ve got five skeins of the Malabrigo ; I’m going to see where three skeins gets me.  There’s 440 yards in a 3.5 oz skein of this sock yarn because it’s skinny yarn for knitting socks, 100% Merino wool, machine wash cold, dry flat.  It’s a bit pricey but, like the man sez, you get what you pay for.  (Look at me knitting with yarn snob yarn!)  Evidently, they’ve discontinued the “Teal Feather” colorway.  Pity.  But that Cian . . . .  Here’s a detail of the eyelet border, as yet unfinished, never mind unblocked.

Anyway, I was I was sipping Crystal Light Peach Mango out of my stainless steel 32 oz water bottle (with a whole tray of ice in) and knitting on this newest shawl and enjoying the newest video from Liziqui’s YouTube channel.  Oh, another lovely, peaceful video.  There’s a reason she has 11.4 K followers.  I love the relationship she has with her granny.  You don’t need to be able to read or understand Chinese to enjoy her videos.  Recommended viewing.   Just get your cool beverage of choice, kick back and enjoy.

Heard my phone ding and looked to see why, and noticed it’s 101F/38.3C outside just now, which is why I’m inside with one of my pedestal fans on low blowing at me.  These things are work horses.  Second summer on this one, third summer on the other two, going 24/7.   I have one in the living room, one here in my “office” and one in my bedroom.  Money well spent.  I like that you can angle them up and down.  The newer models come with a remote.  (Doesn’t everything these days? Kind of makes you want to buy a carpenter’s tool belt to carry all your remotes around in. . .)

The older of my two first cousins x2 removed just got her driver’s license.  Where does the time go? The other one is nearly five.

This one is my mother’s sister Jean’s great granddaughter.  Her daddy is a brigadier general in the USAF.  When her daddy makes major general, they will be entitled to sing the song. *

The other one is my mother’s sister Verna’s great granddaughter, and a ringed-tailed doozy.

I may be committing tuna salad in the near future.   I think that’s tuna that I hear calling my name. . . could be something else.  I’d better go see.

Oh, wait!  This first.  This! (Thanks, Terri!)

 

*Yes, that's a young Linda Ronstadt as Mabel, one of the Major General's daughters, with Rex Smith as Frederic and Kevin Kline as the Pirate Captain in the 1980 Joseph Pap production of "Pirates of Penzance" put on in Central Park in New York.  The movie version of this casting is very good if you can find a copy of it.