We both had really limited time for reading this month. Ally's studying to take her AP exams and the SAT very soon. We also decided to give her sister, Melissa, a very, very last-minute gift—a knitted shawl to match her prom dress. This required a week straight of knitting and zero reading on my part. I got an even later start on the project than I'd anticipated because of a last-minute change in shoe color, which caused a panicked scramble to get matching yarn in the new color. All of the stress was definitely worth the surprise when we gave the finished shawl to her, though.
Anyone who's knitted lace knows that you have to block the piece to death (basically stretch it out as much as possible) to open the lacework. Now, I love knitting lace; blocking, not so much, but it's absolutely necessary if you ever want your finished piece to look anything like the photo in the pattern. So I had to get over my blocking laziness and just get it done:
This was one of my better blocking efforts, so much so that I kind of want to knit one of these for myself.
Here's what went on around the blog in April:
Ally Read:
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Lee Read:
- The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa
- A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
- The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Chase Tinker and the House of Magic by Malia Ann Haberman
- The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff
- Sins of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
- Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
Reviews Posted:
- The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
- The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
- The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa
- Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Defiance by C. J. Redwine
- The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Chase Tinker and the House of Magic by Malia Ann Haberman
- Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
- The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff
Featured Posts:
- My Rage Will Not Be Unspoken: Melissa's Unspoken Rant
- I Write What I Want: Melissa's Review Writing Rant
Discussing Game of Thrones Posts:
That shawl looks amazing! I wish I could learn how to knit, but I don't have the patience or the time at the moment. You did a wonderful job though!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I took up knitting on a whim and am self-taught, and though it took me a while to get the hang of it, it wasn't as difficult to learn as I'd feared.
DeleteGood luck with the SAT! :) The shawl looks AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteI definitely want to make one for myself. The only downside is, knitting cuts into reading time, so I'm going to have to find a balance between the two, lol.
DeleteSuch an absolutely beautiful shawl!! Great job :D Definitely worth all the work that went into it. Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven.
ReplyDeleteI was so worried about finishing it on time, and it ended up being shorter than the pattern called for. Luckily, it fell to a perfect length on Melissa!
DeleteThat shawl looks awesome! I wish I knew how to knit :/ I remember my nana tried to teach me once, I don't think it went well because she never tried again... :(
ReplyDeleteSoudns like a really busy month you all had!
My aunt tried teaching me how to crochet when I was a kid, and it was a complete disaster, lol. Sometimes knitting calls for a bit of crocheting, and I still can't do even a simple stitch, so I stay far away from those patterns.
DeleteMy daughter just took her SAT's yesterday ~ good luck and try not to stress out to much over it. Vocabulary is a must to study because, you know, we all use ridiculously long words in real life so that nobody knows what the hell we're talking about. ;)
ReplyDeleteAlly took the SAT yesterday, too, and I told her to try not to worry the whole time she's waiting for the scores; what's done is done. She said that some of the vocab was ridiculous. I remember taking the test ages ago and getting some real doozies; I couldn't even pronounce the words, let alone know what they meant!
DeleteOh wow, you have mad skills Lee, that shawl is just absolutely incredible!! You had a pretty impressive month nonetheless in my books anyways, I didn't read that much this month and not because I was doing anything uber-creative like you haha Nice looking April and here's to an even better May :)
ReplyDeleteI made A LOT of mistakes while knitting that, and I can see some of them in the photo. The good thing about lace is that it's pretty forgiving, unless you make a really big hole or something by accident, which I almost did but managed to catch in time.
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