Paying Attention

Joe was paying attention to my knitting this week. He walked by the February Lady Sweater and asked me when I was going to finish it. He said I love the colors of "that thing". Hmmmm, that gave me inspiration to keep going on it. I am 3-4" away from being done with the body. I didn't knit much at all this week after work....way to brain dead.

Then yesterday this happened after I received a delivery of yarn. Ruth and I placed a small order for yarn for the Canopy Shawl and it came to my house.

Joe: We need a new mailman.
Me: Why?

Joe: Well, he delivered that yarn to our house, and he knows you certainly don't need anymore.
Me: Oh, well its ok because Ruth had yarn delivered here.

Joe: busted up laughing, oh she did huh?
Me: well, yes. She doesn't have any room in her house for more yarn so she is sending it here now.

Joe: busted up laughing, well its kinda pretty.

And I didn't think he paid attention!

Fun

I am making March knitting all about the fun. Sometimes I knit like its my job....like I have obligations to finish projects in a hurry, deadline, etc. I'm making March fun, not worrying
about what I 'should' be knitting. I loved knitting the Forest Canopy Shawl. It was fun,
fast, easy, and using our hand dyed yarn made it even more special.

I loved that the pattern had a center stitch. If I made a mistake it was easy enough to go back from the center, or to the center and fix it. The pattern was very well written. I would definitely make this again, though the next time I would use yarn that had a little more yardage. My shawl is a little small, but still functionable. I had 450 yards of sock yarn, which I would normally use a size 2 needle on. I used a size 4 addi lace needle. I ended up with 281 stitches. The pattern using worsted yarn ends up at 195. I noticed on Ravely that lots of folks use thicker yarn and make the shawl much larger.


These pictures show the shawl done, but unblocked. I put it outside on the boat cover so you would be able to see the color better:




I had encouragement thru the whole process:



Apparently, Magic thought he needed to be on security detail while it was
blocking:



The finished product, oh so soft and lovely.






One thing about this hand dyed yarn: it is so soft and squishy...as lovely
as the expensive yarn we all covet. I have some natural lace yarn in my
stash that I am thinking of dying....to make another shawl. I really need
to think about the color....

I have a sock going using the pattern Ruth and Jeannine have been doing.
Mine is Knit 5, seed 3 and I am really liking the pattern. The yarn is a semi-
solid from Ellen's half pint. 50% tencel/50% merino. I have not knit much
on it - saving for the bus.






Martha just finished a cool pair of socks, that just scream Spring.
I think they are lovely. Thanks for sharing, Martha!





Today I am back to working on the February Lady Sweater.

We had a lot of family activities this weekend, and my fun meter is filling up.
Thank goodness, its not at 0 anymore!

Have a great, safe, week!

Swan Yarn

You have to admit, this yarn in the cake is kind of fugly. I cannot photo the color very well. It is not blue, it is purple, and the lighter color is more lavendar than blue. This is the yarn that we dyed at Martha's last year. (Thanks, Martha !)



I decided to use it for the lovely Forest Canopy Shawl that everyone is raving about.
The original was knit in Worsted weight yarn on a size 8 needle, I am using sock
weight on size 4 needle. Mine will definitely be a smaller shawl. I am calling the
colorweigh Swan because in my eyes it turned from fugly to lovely.


I wish the pattern would show up better, but trust me it's wonderful, and oh so fun!



I finished up the kool-aid dyed green socks this weekend. The colorway is very nice.
I'm not in love with the pattern I made up. A little eyelet and twist on the side of the sock.
Tiffany is the lucky recipient.




I did not work on the February Lady sweater much this week, so no progress
pictures to share.

Ruth finished up her epaulet sweater and its wonderful! This is an Elizabeth Zimmerman
pattern.


She is also almost done with her new socks made out of Panda Silk.


Martha just finished up a pair of jaywalker socks, but she's not in love with them
so didn't send a picture.

My fun meter is at an all time low....I'm hoping Spring gets here soon.

Take care and have a good week!

Short Update

I've been under the weather this week with cold stuff....(sniff sniff, cough, wheeze, choke, etc)

Did not feel like knitting much......A few pictures to show my minimal progress:

February Lady Sweater in Cascade 220 Superwash Paints.....




A little neck scarf thingy - purchased from Stephanie Japel at Glampyre knits


The first green hand dyed sock is done. I left it on the needles in case I run out of
yarn for the 2nd one and need to rip back a bit. I put in an eyelet and a twist
for mental stimulation.



The birthday girl....




I took this picture for no reason other than the flowers made me smile.
Lavendar from last year's crop, and a rose Tiff got for Valentines day.
Question: do you see something wrong with this picture?
Answer: the wine glasses are empty!

have a great week!