Shawl pins

I was looking through completed projects a while back, and hannah8ball's office cardigan caught my eye. It wasn't just the sweater, but the closure that made me stop and look. I have trouble with buttons--finding just the right ones, making button holes just right, etc. The funky flower pin that Hannah had used worked perfectly with the chunky sweater. Lucky for me, she also posted a link to where she had bought the pin. So off I went to check out Nicholas and Felice on etsy. And I didn't leave the site without a few purchases.

My pins arrived a few days after I placed my order, and they were just as advertised. I liked the flower, but I decided to go with the dragonfly. I have my hand in the pictures to show the size.

I also bought a hair pin, even though my hair is still to short too use it. I will use it when my grows longer, but I can also use it to close a chunky cardigan too.

I'm really happy with these, and I may have a chunky cardigan in my future.

On lace progress. . .

A few nights ago I was on a roll. I had gotten the hang of the pattern and I was nearing completion of chart A. It was midnight and I just couldn't stop with row 22 on a chart that has 24 rows. I start row 23 and at one of the last markers I realize my count is off. I tink back and knit forward for an hour before I give up. The later it got, the worse I got. It is likely that my mistake happended on the last pattern row, row 21, but I just couldn't tell without tinking all the way back, and I just didn't have the brain power. So I put it down, and I haven't looked at it since.

Where is my last lifeline? Rows 1 and 2 are repeated 16 times. My lifeline is at row 3. So I will try the tinking back--but those "slip 2 as if to knit, knit 1, pass slipped stitches over knit stitch" are tough to undo. So we will see. I may just need to rip it all back. This is what happens and you don't put a lifeline in often enough.