My Mom's Block is complete!

Whenever I look at the photo of this block in the Great American Aran Afghan (GAAA) book, I think of my mom. For some reason, it just reminds me of her. It's delicate and feminine and symmetrical (us Libras like balance and symmetry!) and I think it reminds me of my mom because I think she would really like this pattern. I also liked the delicate scallops which surround the center lace portion. What do you think, Mom?

I love the construction of this block. You start at the outside (cast on 212 stitches) and then join... and then work your way toward the center. This block started giving me major grief last night... I missed one two-stitch decrease in one corner on one row. I should have just put it down and looked at it with fresh eyes this morning. But NOOO. I kept back tracking and ripping back and stayed up too late. I was hard at it this morning before I went for a walk, then worked on it some more at the cafe', and then worked on it more at knitting class today. I am thankful to be done. The knit3togethers were a bear with my dull bamboo double pointed needles which were necessary for the center portion. I discovered a huge "flaw" in the lace portion near the center while blocking, but once it dried... I seemed to have successfully accomplished "damage control" on that flaw. Could have been a knitting katastrophe! If you were to compare my version of this design to that in the GAAA book, you'll see the original design has only five bobbles in the center. I think my block has 13 bobbles piled up in the center.... a ring of 8, then a ring of 4 and then one up high to top it off. When I got to the center, I just basically winged it. I felt as if I had a huge gaping hole to close... five bobbles just weren't going to cut it. I also did not understand the instructions... MB and MB dec. Make bobble? Make bobble decrease? All said and done, I am pleased with this block. I know I went a little Kodak Fever on this block posting so many pictures above, but I couldn't decide which picture best captured this block. The yarn is a lovely lavender color; it doesn't come through as nice as it really is in the photos.