When we bought our house, the previous owner told us that someone from the Smithsonian came out once to photograph the old thresher in the backyard. We took that as a sign that we should be proud of it, so we are. Jonny has spent the past ten years hauling away sinks, toilets, and other random junk, but that giant thresher stays. We’ve cleaned up most of the major piles of old metal and wood on our property, so these days my boys take expeditions off into the woods and drag home metal from old abandoned homesites. How they got that sink home, I have no idea. It looks heavy. Jonny will load up all this metal in the back of his little old truck and the boys will make some money selling it at the metal recycling center. It’s great for the boys to have this resourceful way of making money, but it’s not great for the curb appeal of our house. My friends are used to me having a different excuse for the mess out front every time they visit.
I finished knitting my Clothilde shawl a couple of weeks ago. I found the last chart to be very challenging. Not the stitches themselves, but making my brain hold onto the pattern as I knit along. I couldn’t work on it at night, because being the least bit sleepy could be disastrous. I knit the last few rows locked in my bedroom on a Saturday morning, sweating nails. Just the memory of it hurts my brain. I may take a nice long break from knitting lace. My mind isn’t up for the challenge, and it’s a small miracle that this shawl turned out at all. My Ravelry notes are HERE.
p.s. For posterity’s sake, Jonny was kind enough to model for an “I’m too sexy for my shawl,” photo.
That shawl is beautiful, I love knitting lace, but definitely needs some serious concentration which I imagine you don’t get to do much with all your children. By the way, your kids look so much like Jonny.
Just love that last shot!
Very funny. He should wear that color all the time, it really suits him!
hilarious last picture – what a good sport. and, obviously, amazing job on the shawl. thanks for all you share on this great blog.
The shawl is absolutely gorgeous!
Your hubbie looks like Paul Newman!!
Yes, he sure does!!! 🙂
Every single bit of this is beautiful Ginny. Great work!
beautiful shawl! I love the color you chose. It’s very springtimeish!
Ginny, you are so talented!!!! The shawl is beautiful!!!! I bet it is good to know that if Jonny ever tires of hauling sinks and toilets, he can always trade his day job in to being a GQ magazine model!!!! He definitely has a future in it!!!!
Thank you for your blog, it is the highlight of my day
Ha! Yes, he definitely has the expression down. I die laughing every time I look at that photo! Thank you for your sweet comment!
Your shawl is so lovely! Looks great on you (and Jonny, too)!
Ginny, I am amazed by that shawl. I can’t believe someone could make that stitch by stitch.Wait, they’re not called stitches, are they? Purls? Knots? Chains? Idunno. I’m not a knitter. Sorry. But anyway, it’s very impressive! Jonny took some beautiful pictures of you too.
Wow, what a beautiful shawl! I’m so envious of your knitting skills. 🙂
Maybe some day I will be able to knit that well…
Oh, and the thresher is really cool, too.
Wow, that shawl totally matches Jonny’s eyes :). What a sport!!!
The shawl is so beautiful. I know you will enjoy wearing it – especially because it was challenging.
Beautiful shawl 🙂
The shawl is gorgeous, the photos too!
Awesome last photo 🙂
hee hee, best post ever. jonny and you are gorgeous and the shawl too. well done!
Gorgeous color! clothilde is very good pattern. I have knit it too, twice! And the last picture, wow, is unpayable! The best!! Haha
That shawl looks gorgeous (on both of you :-)), well done! I hope I’ll be skilled enough one day to knit something like this too.
Well done on the shawl! One day I will be skilled enough to knit something like this too, hopefully 🙂 And I’m loving the last picture!
Oh my Jonny, you are a good sport!
Blessings,
Kim
The shawl is beautiful! Congratulations on finishing it! A thresher? Always reminds me of Little House on the Prairie when I hear something about a thresher. Pretty neat.
The shawl is gorgeous, and I am not sure that I will ever be able to do lace. Remember my February Lady Sweater? I can’t get the lace pattern onto the dpns for the sleeves and cast on the additional stitches under the arms, plus there is an ugly mess-up on the back…so I think I am frogging it and going for something that maybe has a bit of lace at the yoke…or maybe a Tea Leaves…
My boys drag metal home, too, and have dragged an incredibly heavy sink back from the neighbor’s woods. They get money this way, too…
Love Jonny in the shawl : )
lovely (both you and the shawl)! the color suits you perfectly.
Gosh I love that shawl and your husband’s pose is priceless 🙂 I am sure when you two were just starting out you never ever thought that you would be swamped with kids, homeschooling, blogging, and taking photos of knitted shawls in the yard for giggles!!
Totally makes Jonny’s eyes just pop. Lol.
Oh wow that shawl is gorgeous! And looks impossible!
I always like when homes have stuff in the yards. It seems more lived in. And how fun! There’s always a project in the making. At least to me 🙂
Your male model is hand-some! (I hyphenated it so you could feel my emphasis….)
That shawl is gorgeous. I’ve never knit lace before. Your model is doing a fabulous job!
I started Andrea’s shawl by Kristen Kapur today, my first lace project, yours looks beautiful.
that is just too funny, about the shawl. i have those same issues with even the simplest patterns, lol, my brain just doesn’t seem to hold on to much of anything.
Love the way the sunlight is hitting the shawl in that one photo. Tiny lace like that just doesn’t work with my knitting brain, but I love the way it always comes out looking so beautiful and delicate.
Good work on the shawl. I hope you enjoy it lots after all that work. Your husband is so fun, by the way. I can only imagine the good times you shared over that picture!
LOL! Your husband is a wonderful model. What a beautiful shawl 🙂
Oh, that sink! Dont get rid of it! It would make the perfect outdoor wash station or water table for the kids or veggie wash station or even poultry processing spot!! And the shawl is beautiful too 🙂
That shawl is absolutely gorgeous! Someday I hope to knit something as beautiful as that…
The shawl is beautiful and I love Johnny’s pose. Too funny!
It was worth it, that shall is beautiful! Love the last pic 🙂
Oops, I meant “shawl”!
I laughed out loud for that last photo! Glad you added it. Beautiful shawl!
I love it. SUch a beautiful pattern well executed and well-modeled!! And your kiddos resourcefulness with the treasures they find. Call it industry not a mess, I say.
BWAAAAaaaaahahaha! Sorry, Ginny, Jonny stole the show. Jonny, blue is totally your color.
He has a tendency to do that 🙂
Love the shawl and your metal junk. I need my kids to haul home some metal barrels.
The shawl picture! Pete would never let that one leak out. Oh, and I see my sink! I’ll be right over to pick it up. 😉
Pretty lace!
What a nice way for kids to make money!
I too love photography and in my favorite photo course I went to the junk yard, and created amazing images. Something about rust and “junk” that can be so poetic.
I love it! All of it. The shawl, the metal (which my boys are going to sell too), and your hubby’s photo. Thanks for the laugh. 🙂 I’m working on finishing a lace scarf for a friend that she started. The pattern is in a diagonal so making a mistake is torture to fix. I can relate.
Ha!
I love the shawl, though. Although…I’m afraid my brain may have the same problem as yours do I don’t know when or if I’ll ever tackle a lace shawl. You should be proud!
LOL!!!
… And I envy you for being able to go outside shortsleeved! We’re stll walking up to ou ankles in snow…. Hardly any sun to be seen…
The weather here is so unpredictable. Today I am all layered up and still freezing. But, no snow. I do love it when we have a warm day!
Oh my goodness…that last photo…I am dying over here…
(And your shawl is gorgeous, of course.) xo
Well he IS kind of cute!
Michelle, he may never forgive you for using the two words, “kind of.” LOL.
Well I was trying not to be too forward. Okay, he is gorgeous! 🙂
okay, you’re forgiven! 🙂
I think the color of the shawl compliment his eye very well! 😉