The top section of the Ishbel shawl is done and the beginning of the lace section is giving me all kinds of fits. It took me a while to do the first row and I diligently put markers every 8 stitches to mark the pattern. Of course, the first row took many attempts to get from beginning to end with the stitch count ending up correctly. The second row was a snap with mostly purl stitches except for the beginning, end, and center stitches.
As soon as I started the third row, I knew I was in big trouble, because the 8 repeating stitches did not fall between the many markers, but jumped them. I finished this row, removing all those pesky markers which were doing me no good, so now I will have to rely on the PSSO stitches to mark my place in the rows.
The handspun is working out nicely on this project, and is so soft. Blocking when done should smooth everything out.
Two long days this week were spent in the state mandated class to qualify to get my insurance license which I need for my job. I am pretty cynical about the whole insurance concept, realizing that they are profit making companies who really don't want to insure people or make payouts...ever. Tomorrow I take the exam, which I need to pass, but not really happy about everything I learned. I will be that "trained monkey" spitting out the rules and regs as needed, and glad to know that I will only be dealing with limited products in that field.
