All Shawl, All the Time

Today truly sucked, but I came home and saw this,

and my day improved a lot. The shawl, she is finished. I think she stretched out some with blocking. Want to see a close up, you say? Here's a section close to the right wing.

A couple of the leaf motifs in the center.

The straight upper edge, lovely in its simplicity.

More of the center, leaf edging.

The right side again.

And the left.

I've just folded it up and I'm thinking I may have to have another photo session in the morning, when the light is better. You won't mind, will you?

Saroyan shawl, thanks to the ADD Knitter. I loved it! And even though I'm not a shawl wearer, I foresee another shawl in my future.

It Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time

I should know better than to stay up late on a school night, especially when I have a field trip to chaperone, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm so glad Jeff Bridges won; he was amazing in that role.




I almost finished the shawl last night while watching the Oscars, but just couldn't do it. I think it was the tweet checking that cost me the time, although it was totally worth it.


I took this photo before work this morning with only one decrease repeat left to do (fourteen rows). But I finished it after I got home tonight, gave it a soak, and it's now drying on some towels on the kitchen floor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they call this a gentle blocking, since I'm not using any pins. If I have time tomorrow morning, I'll take another picture. I think this is going to go to my sister-in-law, who has a birthday next week. She's a knitter also, so I think she'll appreciate it.

I think I'd like to do this pattern again with a heavy worsted weight yarn, even though I don't think I'm a shawl person.




And lest you think I've abandoned the mondo-cable, here's proof that it's still growing. I laid it out on top of a sweater I like the length of to check it. I think I need about 6-10 more rows before the edging, but I'm not working on it tonight as my brain is fuzzy. Not enough sleep.

Another thing I've noticed growing is my confidence that I can knit more challenging things. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm starting to feel more adventurous about what I want to knit. Which is a good thing.

And now, I need to try and make up my sleep deficit.

Oscar Night

Watching the Oscars and trying to follow Ann on Twitter, but I don't know the lingo. Are all the comments hers? What's with the @s? Are those from other people?

Also trying to finish up the Saroyan shawl. Only four more decreases to go, so if I stay off the computer, I will definitely finish.

Didn't love Alec and Steve as much as I expected, but loved the Jimmy Kimmel commercial!!

Disappointed that Christopher Plummer didn't win. I like the movies I actually see to win, you know.

Weekend Ramblings

S came home for spring break Thursday night, M2 came home Friday night, and they both left on a bus for New York at 1 a.m. Friday morning to visit M2. They come back Tuesday night at 11:30 p.m. Not exactly the way I'd like to travel but they're young and resilient so they'll be fine. I'm so glad the three of them are so close.

Steve got back from his trip Thursday night, but he was so busy and stressed about work on Friday that we didn't really connect well until yesterday. We did a sort of "vacation in our town" kind of thing. First we went for bagels at this great place I like, then we came home and took a nap (staying up until 1 a.m. dropping the girls off the night before caught up with me). We went back to Ghent to see Up in the Air at the Naro, then walked to Cogan's after the movie for beer and mussels, and went to Fairgrounds, my favorite coffee shop, for after dinner coffee (tea for me). We were actually going to go back to the Naro for another movie, Broken Embraces, but I ran out of steam, so we came home. One of the things I liked so much about the day was the amount of walking we did, as everything is in the same general area. Actually, this is the neighborhood I'd choose to live in if we didn't live near the Bay.

I did a bit of knitting on my Saroyan shawl; all I have left to do are the decreases now. (I even wound the new ball of yarn while we were at the coffee shop.) The sweater is at a point where I need to measure the length against another sweater to see if I'm ready to bind it off. Kind of excited about starting the sleeves! I'm thinking I'll get to work on it while watching the Oscars tonight. Anyone else an Oscar watcher?


And on a totally different subject, this bed looks awesome! I think it would be a great thing to have in a craft room. And speaking of craft rooms, I talked to M2 about rearranging what's left of her room so that I can set up the sewing machine in there. She's already taken most of her stuff, she's not planning on being here for summer break (staying in Blacksburg to take a class and work), and I want to be able to sew more often, so it seemed like a good idea to use her room. It seems a little strange, like I'm pushing her out, but her bed is still in there, so it's not like she won't have a place to sleep when she does come home. Plus, she likes to sew too, so that helps. But still, it feels a little strange.

The weather is supposed to get in the sixties today so I'm hoping to make it down to the beach for awhile. Haven't been down since the big snow.

Mostly Yarn

I had a crazy, busy day at school yesterday. We had the SOL writing test, which blew our schedule out of the water. I can never decide who the schedule changes upset more, the students or the teachers? Anyway, as soon as the day ended, I blasted out of there and drove the hour down to the Outer Banks. I stopped at Knitting Addiction and spent a little money there, then spent a nice quiet evening with my parents, watching the waves crash before it got too dark to see outside and going to sleep rather early. We walked on the beach this morning before I headed back, planning to go to work. Unfortunately, I got sick on the drive back and ended up coming home to recuperate, after making at least five restroom stops on the way. The same thing happened to me on the way back from Blacksburg this past Sunday. I think my body is trying to tell me to slow down and stay home and I've decided to listen. So I took a nap and now I'm sitting on the couch catching up on my blog reading.

I also decided to photograph the February yarn purchases and catch up my ravelry page, but my photo files aren't playing happy with ravelry today, so I'm putting them here for now.

These aren't in any particular order, but they do represent my February travels. I bought these two skeins in Blacksburg and I'm planning to make a slouchy hat. I want one but I'm not a hat person, so if I don't like it on me, I'll gift it.I bought these two skeins in Blacksburg also; they are the Hokie colors, and I'm going to make a baby hat for one of my co-workers who is a big Hokie fan and is expecting her second son.These two skeins of Noro were bought at Brooklyn General on the NYC yarn crawl that M1 and I did. One is Silk Garden but the other is Chirimen, which is 60% cotton. Both are for me to use as contrasting stripes for future Turn A Square hats, Steve's favorite hat pattern. No pink or purple can be found in these skeins, which satisfies his color preferences.These two skeins are Spud & Chloe Fine; I plan to make myself a pair of socks and I purposely bought a solid color (rare for me as I like varigated) so that I can pick a sock pattern other than my usual plain one. Haven't decided which one yet, but that's the plan.This is a bargain buy from Purl Soho, one skein (114 yds) of Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe, so I think I can do a baby item out of it. Any suggestions? Maybe a hat and a pair of socks? This is the makings of my Purl scarf. It's two skeins of Manos Silk Wool and one of Kidsilk Haze and I plan to strand them together for a scarf. M1 helped me choose the colors from Purl SoHo.These two skeins of Misti Alpaca, purchased at Brooklyn General, are for a friend's scarf. I had made her a black scarf a few years ago with some yarn she picked out. I hated working with that yarn, and every time she wore it, I cringed. She tried to wash it a couple of weeks ago and she shrunk/felted it, so I'm going to do another one for her only this time, I picked out something I would enjoy working with.And last but not least, my old standby yarn for Steve's socks: Mission Falls 1824 wool. I haven't made him a pair in quite some time so I picked this yarn up at Knitting Addiction. Three skeins of the gold color and one of black to add a stripe or two in the cuff.

And now that I have a record of my overbuying, I've decided I really want to read this book. I feel that I've been consuming and consuming and I'm not happy about it. Anyone read it already? What do you think about it?

Indulgence

What a perfectly indulgent time I'm having. If it weren't for work cutting into my time, I'd be incorrigible. Steve left yesterday for a little trip to see a couple of concerts and to visit his brother, which leaves me to my own devices. Yesterday was the solo movie time, and today I met some friends for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Fellini's, for some wine, food, and fun. Of course I knit while I talked, at least until the wine kicked in and the food came. I stopped by the video store afterwards and picked up the Clive Owen's (!) film The Boys are Back for some eye candy while I knit. Now a nor'easter is moving in and the rain sounds so lovely I haven't started the movie yet. Tomorrow after work, I'm driving down to the Outer Banks to visit my parents, who are there for the week in a beach house right on the ocean, assuming the weather allows. Before I know it, it'll be Thursday and Steve will be back with S, for her spring break.

And thanks for the sweater/medal encouragement!! I knew I could count on you all!

Olympic Knitting

I am awarding myself an Olympic medal, even though I'm not finished yet. I'm like those competitors who were just glad to be there, with no real hope of winning a medal.

As I understood the rules of the Yarn Harlot's Olympics, it was about challenging one's self, and this I have done. I am so excited about the progress I've made and even more importantly, the anticipation of actually finishing it. I've hit a bump or two, but I've worked through them and I'm still making progress. The most recent snag was when I realised yesterday morning that I'd knit for about four inches using size sevens instead of size eights. I'd started the sweater using the correct size, but decided to substitute my Susan Bates for wooden needles while in New York, just in case airport security was tight, and somehow I bought the wrong size. When I realized it yesterday, I went to the knit shop in Blacksburg and bought a third set so I could knit on the correct size on the five hour return trip. If you look closely, you can find the difference in guage, but I'm thinking (hoping) it won't matter that much after blocking. My oldest daughter (the one who knits) also assured me that the alpaca will have enough give that it won't matter.

So should I put the medal on my sidebar now or wait until the sweater is completed?

(By the way, I just re-read the rules and I don't think I really qualify after all, as one of the rules is to complete the project by the time the flame is put out. But I am happy about this so doesn't that count too?? And did you notice I doubled the number of cable crosses in one weekend? And isn't that flame lit somewhere else anyway?)

Oh and since Steve is out of town, I treated myself to a movie, The Last Station, at the Naro after work. I loved it, you should definitely see it. I notice I really like love stories about older people more now and watching Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren (oh to be her when I'm that age) was wonderful. Plus, she walks around in shawls looking so regal. I want to look like that, but I'm afraid I'll just look frumpy in my shawls.