Finished, With A Little Help From A Friend

After a lot of "I hate finishing sweaters" procrastination, I finally sat down to finish my Manos Silk Shrug before Christmas.  And, I ran into a problem.  No matter how carefully I thought I had blocked it, it really didn't look at all neat when I began seaming.  The yarn was a pretty silk/merino base yarn I've knit with before, and I couldn't figure out what the problem was.  I finally decided to take it to my favorite local yarn store to have them give it a good blocking and do the seaming for me, before I did the ribbed trim.  It seemed like a decadent escape from work.  In the pre-Christmas frenzy, I decided it was worth it to get it done just right, because I loved how the pieces had turned out.

I picked it up this week.

Not only had it been seamed, but they had done the ribbing — you can see it around the edges, you pick up the stitches and rib for several inches.  It was all done.  I put it on and haven't taken it off since.

The Manos yarn is really pretty and nice to work with, and the Debbie Bliss pattern is simple, with some interesting shaping, but other than the finishing quagmire I let myself get into on this one, it's an easy and rewarding knit.