OK, I admit that I have always wanted to be a princess. I went through that phase that lots of kids go through, where they imagine that they were adopted from another family, but my secret long-lost family was royal. And I was always interested in dressing like a princess. One of my earliest memories is of walking to school, maybe first grade, tugging my skirt down to make it as long as it could be, so that it would be more like a princess's skirt.
Well, I have arrived. This is the Mandala shawl, by Rene Leverington. While in Italy, I began to think of it as "la principessa", and now that it is finished, it certainly is regal. My life is much too plebian to do it justice, but I shall just have to start getting myself invited to balls.......
In the "you can't make this stuff up" department, when I went out to do the photos, I realized that there were frogs swimming in the pool, and thus I did my first frog rescue of the season.
What do you think will happen if I kiss him?
Technical notes: I used sundara silk lace, color Ruby Port. Although I had some ambivalence about the yarn, and didn't like the lack of saturation of color, I've forgotten just about everything I didn't like in the face of the finished project.
The pattern is a delight. Rene offers four different patterns for each of the four sections of the shawl, so you can individualize your shawl, both in pattern and number of rounds. I did patterns A-B-C-D- and C again. This was my first circular shawl. Getting it started was a tolerable challenge, and I would make another one....if I thought I might have a glut of state occasions to attend.