In which I lament RED. LACE.

You know how lace looks like ass when you photograph it pre-blocking? And how red is the hardest color to photograph accurately?

Well, guess what I've been working on?

RED. LACE.

A few days ago, I cast on again for Evelyn Clark's Swallowtail Shawl from Winter '06 IK. I started this shawl at the end of April, then got sidetracked by other projects, then screwed up and bound off, and now I'm a healthy distance into it again. I think I've done about 10 of the 14 repeats of the body. I've been surfing the Knit-along for tips, and am reasonably sure that if I keep counting carefully and keep threading a lifeline every so many rows (right now I'm doing it at the end of each 6-row repeat) I should be able to finish just fine.

I've decided that lace and socks appeal to me for reasons of economy. For about the same price as one sweater sleeve (give or take) I can work for weeks on tiny-ish needles. More knitting for my money, more bang for my buck, plus the pleasure of creating something intricate and useful.

That said, my knitting budget is experiencing a surplus right now! I have some more birthday money to spend on knitting stuff--a KnitPicks gift certificate (thanks, mom!), a gift certificate to one of my awesome local yarn stores (thanks, Robbie!), and a $10 credit at another one of my lovely locals (thanks, self, for spending so much there already!)--and am pondering the possibilities. Stephanie Japel's book Fitted Knits, my bedtime reading of choice, is calling to me.

So since I don't have a photo of my RED. LACE. (yet) I will post another lacy, red photo, from a recent outing through the neighborhood:

Japanese maple, from below.