July 5th, 2011 
mio The shawl is finished!
After Ponoka, we drove for what seemed like 17 days (but was more like 5 or 6 hours…) to the ranch. During the drive, we went through no fewer than 3 massive storms.
It’s important to understand something here: Charles has been telling me since we met that he just loves it when it rains because it very rarely did so in Alberta. Perhaps we have global warming to blame, or perhaps I bring rain with me wherever I go, but if there is one thing I can say about the trip to Alberta, over all, is that it was wet. Really wet.
In Charles’ defense, though, he grew up on the ranch, and while we were on the ranch, it was bright and sunny.
The pictures of the sky on our trip from Ponoka to the ranch are on Charles’ Xoom (because I was too busy driving to take pictures) and I don’t have them yet. They’ll have to be in another post!
Anyhow, back to the shawl… I can not emphasize this enough: if you are going to attempt to make a Seraphina’s Shawl: CHECK FOR ERRATA. Seriously.
When I first found the pattern on Ravelry, I saw that it was linked to the designer’s website, and also to a forum post on Crochetville. I knew that there was errata, but I assumed (to my folly) that the pattern on the designer’s website had been updated with the changes. Also, it had step-by-step pictures! How could I go wrong?
I saved the whole page before getting on the plane. Ye gads. The thing is rife with errors. I consider myself to be a fairly advanced crocheter, so I put my considerable experience to the task and… well, it IS shawl-shaped… but don’t ask me how I got it that way.
The really fun part came after I was off the plane and out of Internet-free Ponoka, when I finally had Internet access again, but I still couldn’t fix the shawl because it was mostly done. No, even though I now had the correct stitch counts (I think!), I had to figure out what I had done on the plane so that I could continue with THAT pattern instead…
It was madness!
In other news… hey look! I finished a blanket!
Actually, I finished this some time ago! It is living happily (and no doubt dry-ly) at the ranch. Merry Christmas!
This blanket was made using Bernat Berella 4, in a variation on my Oddly Linked Blanket pattern (the pattern for which is for sale here: http://fantasticmio.com/shop/ )
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11 Blankets in 2011
