Magic Carpet Ride!!!!

The Magic Carpet Ride is here!! I successfully blocked it yesterday evening, as promised. This was a great chance to break in my new blocking cloth, which allowed me to get nice straight edges without wires. But then I ended up having to wait most of the day today for the AA batteries to charge for the digital camera, so that I could get some pictures of the blocking process before removing the pins.

The finished dimensions of the stole are 13" wide by 83" long (i.e. a bit wider and almost 2 feet longer than the original 12" x 60"). My modifications to enhance the length really paid off, for this is a lavish and luxurious thing to wear, very Bohemian in its look & feel. I love, love, L-O-V-E the softness and sheen of the KnitPicks Shimmer with those dreamy, rich hand-dyed colors (although unfortunately the "Galaxy" colorway is now no longer available).

Here is the inevitable photo gallery. In the first four of these pictures you can clearly see the red gridlines of the blocking cloth peeking through underneath the lace. In the interests of full disclosure, I have included a closeup of the center seam, which was made by a 3-needle bind-off with a 3.25 mm (US size 3) circular needle, as opposed to the 2.5 mm (US size 1+) that was used for the rest of the knitting. The remaining pictures were taken after all the pins had been removed and the fabric could drape freely. Note the closeups of the intricate beadwork at the lower edge. As always, click on any one of the images to take a closer look...

It is a wonderful feeling to have this project complete at last. I look forward to adding this stole to my wardrobe, for one thing, and it should really help clear some space in my knitting bag!!