Thanks for all the compliments on the sweaters. It's so gratifying to finish something! Sunspots particularly because I've been able to wear it (Long Beach, CA was surprisingly cool), and Hank8 because I started it so damn long ago!
A few notes on the finishing processes:
Sunspots was knit in Karabella Frost, a silk/cashmere/viscose blend that gets much softer when washed. So I washed it by hand with Ivory Snow, then added some fabric softener. I laid it out to dry on my SpaceBoard, stretching and smoothing it out, but not using any pins. It grew quite a bit during this process, which was a desired effect. I think the growth was due to both the blocking of the lace design, and also potentially because of the yarn blooming a bit.
For Hank, the finishing involved making sure all my ends were knotted - yup, knotted, not woven in - then trimming them to 1/4-1/2". I also didn't bother to cross stitch over the steeks; I just left them exposed. They've already started to felt, and I've learned that knitting doesn't want to unravel side-to-side, it really only wants to unravel vertically. Between not weaving in ends, and not finishing the steeks, the finishing was comparatively quick. And since I don't have a wooly board, I just steamed the sweater. I tell ya, steam is a magical thing.
During the conference I just returned from, I did lots of knitting, mostly on the Garden Shawl. I'll see if I can get a decent picture of it today, but as I've mentioned, it's difficult to see as it's all bunched on the circular needle. It kind of looks like a sack at the moment. But I'll see what I can do, because it really is a gorgeous design and I can't wait for you all to see it!
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