i-cords and wet blocking, oh my

I might have promised myself that I'f finally finish the stole before classes start, but that didn't stop me from adding one more project to my list. Really, though, it was an item of necessity. I went to work one day in an outfit without pockets, nowhere to store my iPod. Keeping my sanity while roaming around through the quiet of all those books pretty much requires some sort of music, and since I'd rather not have to plan my wardrove around my entertaining accessories, I set about modifying the cozy I had made months ago. This is what I came up with:



It hangs just a touch lower than I thought, but if I reattach the i-cord a little further down in the pouch, it will be perfect. For now, it certainly does the job, and now I can say that I know how to knit up an i-cord. For this one obviously I double-stranded the yarn (mainly for aesthetic reasons, but it keeps it nice and sturdy, as well), and worked it on US size 6 DPNs.



That beind said, I have been working on the stole. I'm five balls through now, and since it's been getting reasonably long, I decided to block it today to see how much more work I have ahead of me, if any. The pattern seems to stretch better width-wise rather than length-wise, so I might put another ball in just for the sake of doing it right. That still leaves me with two skeins of silk that I have no use for, however.



It's an imperfect blocking, but it's just a test run. Whether or not I add the extra ball, I still have a few rows of garter stitch to add. Next time I'll make sure it's nice and even. Also, I'm not sure if it's a property of silk yarns in general, or just this brand, but it really does smell sort of funny when it gets wet. Thank goodness I always have plenty of incense lying around.