Christmas Socks

This is a pair of Christmas socks for nephew#2. I finished these on the 23rd of December.

This nephew immediately put these socks on his feet after he opened the gift on Christmas Day and I didn't see him take them off. He came home with us from the 25th to the 27th. His mom asked if he had taken them off at all. He said they were too comfy to take off. It is always nice to have positive feedback on hand knit gifts!

And then there were three

I decided at the last minute to do a little stealth knitting for the girls. I managed to knit these practically under their noses without many questions being asked and the secret not being exposed.

I used some of my stash Cascade 220 to make these water bottle insulators. And size 2 or 3 needles.














The stitch patterns were picked out of my handy Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries.




















The next time I do the gray pattern I won't include the seed stitch rows. It was the first one I made and I didn't have enough time to rip it out and start over. I was still had to get my nephew's sock done before Christmas day. I finished that on the 23rd. Whew! Close call!

Christmas Secrets

Here is one of the Christmas secrets I was keeping.

It was a Christmas present to my sister.

The pattern is the Black Olives Stole. I had just enough of the 100% rayon cone left to make this second stole. Plus I knew she would love it!

I lost my blocking mattress so now I'm using a pink insulation board. Worked great! Pinned it on the bed then moved it to finish drying on the upstairs stairwell.

Birthday Flowers

December has been crazy. But that is not unusual. Dd#1 finished up the classroom portion of the driver's ed class. She has been driving mostly with me and does a great job!

December is always busy with the Sunday School Christmas program. Rehearsals are the first 3 Saturdays in December. I've taken advantage of that time to do a little Christmas shopping. The program was scheduled for yesterday but due to the cold weather it needed to be postponed. Dd#3's part is Mary (which she isn't very excited about to say the least. She really is not comfortable being in front of so many people. That is genetic and runs through the maternal side of my family.) Dd#2 is one of the narrators (all the older kids are narrators). She is happy she doesn't have to wear a costume.

Besides the shopping and trying to finish Christmas knitting projects (blocking on the bed today!) we also had a birthday to celebrate. Dd#2 turned 14!


We signed up to sponsor the altar flowers for the Sunday of dd#2's birthday party so we'd have some pretty flowers on the table. And boy they were gorgeous! We didn't specify anything so we were pleasantly surprised with the arrangement.

This picture doesn't do it justice. And the smell...ooooh so lovely!







None of us at the party knew what these pretty little flowers were. Can any of you identify it for us???

It had little pine-like needles and dainty little white flowers. Many of the little flowers are still closed on this branch.








This branch had mostly opened flowers.

Baby Shower

This cute little Baby Feet cloth was adorable hanging on the outside of the baby shower gift bag. That was my job. I used Omega Sinfonia which is a sport weight cotton and size 7 needles. The pattern is quick and easy.








And the gift hiding in the bag was a snuggle sized (or car seat) blanket knit by dd#1. She was going to do the Multidirectional Diagonal pattern but at the half way point decided to finish with Grandma's Favorite cloth (without the eyelets on the edge). We were a spidget short on the green but we did a little fudging that was not noticeable (to most anyway).

The yarn is Cascade 220 100% Superwash wool. One skein of blue and one of green. She used size 8 needles.

Ravelry links:
Baby Feet Cloth
Multidirectional Diagonal Cloth
Grandma's Favorite

P.S. One more Christmas gift off the needles tonight! Woohoo! No details until after Christmas...shhh!!!!

--

Another Adventure Begins

My oldest just got her temps (temporary driver's license ) today! Yikes!

Driver's Ed is keeping us busy this fall semester and it conflicts with Knit Night! But this too shall pass.


Knitting update:
Christmas projects are getting started and more importantly finished! Shhhh! That's all I can say for now.

Pi Cloth

A circular lace cloth knit in the round on size 2 double pointed needles. Great tutorial for new lace knitters! This is a charted pattern.

Interested in knitting a Pi Shawl? This cloth pattern will give you a chance to practice the skills you will need but on a smaller scale. This cloth knits up quickly in a day or two.

This pattern has links to tutorials every step of the way….from the lighter circular cast-on all the way to the knit on edge. Also included…a link to learn how to read charts. Don’t let charts scare you, they really are not so bad once you get used to them.


Yarn: Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc America's Best Article 960, Perle Cotton (Size 5, mercerized). Color: Lime #56. Blocked: 10.5"


Yarn: DMC size 5 Mercerized cotton. Blocked 10”

Ravelry Pattern Page
for $1.00

Cleaning up my knitting blog

As per my original intent...all election related posts will be removed by the end of today.

Please remember to research your chosen candidate before you vote. Do not rely on the MSM to give you the facts. Do your own research.

Now one last thing....GO VOTE!!!

Hope

Today's excerpt from Day by Day We Magnify Thee by Martin Luther.

Wow! Looking up that link Amazon tells me that I purchased this book June 15, 2002. And I've been reading and rereading one little page per day for the last 6.5 years.


The hope of the righteous shall be gladness.
Proverbs 10:28

Although the world may impose on us all manner of plagues and sorrows, and pain our hearts and give us a bitter, sour drink, to say nothing of other daily troubles, such as accidents, or illness, disease, hard times, and war, which hurt the body or the outward man, we must endure it as though biting a sour apple and tasting a bitter draught, that the sweetness that follows may taste the better, and we be driven by this experience to yearn for that day with greater longing. Otherwise we should continue our way so cold and numb that in the end we should no longer feel our misery, like the confident and unrepentant world, till at last we should no longer take notice of the Word of God and should perish with the godless. But now, God in His grace maketh us weary and tired of this life and gives us the comfort of a better--that is, that He will soon appear in the clouds with great power and glory, and lift us up out of all misery to everlasting joy, so that as far as we are concerned nothing better or more to be desired could happen to us. But for the godless there will then be no such joyful sight.


Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!




And yesterday this beauty arrived!

Treasury of Daily Prayer is just hot off the presses.

It has everything...Old Testament readings, New Testament readings, Psalms, hymns, devotional readings from the church fathers, prayers, orders of services (more than one)...and more! See above link for links to excerpts.

I look forward to adding this to my morning routine. Day One...begun. I'd also like to add it to my night time routine. Here's to a future of "intentional" daily devotion! (The word "intentional" on the cardboard wrapping of this book made me giggle.)

Black Olives

Well, I had a first today!

I added my Black Olives pattern to Ravelry...for sale!

I hope others like it as much as I do!



Description:
A summer stole knit with 100% rayon. This easy lace pattern has direct links to tutorials. This is a charted pattern. No grafting required. Size 5 needles.

for $4.00

Model of the White House

On display now at the Washington County Fair Grounds. Click here for more info.

If you go, remember to kneel down at the oval office and look at the ceiling of that room to see the presidential seal.

And I learned this morning (from that link above) that that is where the Wienermobile was headed on Sunday (Oct 5th) when we followed it on our way to church.

Remembering Collective Shame

Excellent article by Uwe Siemon-Netto.

Finished Projects

Here are the cloths off the blocking boards.

The first class went well. Second class is tomorrow.









Finished Christmas socks. Size 14 mens. Size 0 needles. Universal Yarn Pace in Charcoal.

Here are my notes for this project....

Jun 21st. Summer of Socks started FINALLY! Casting on this sock was like visiting with an old friend. Calm, relaxing and familiar.

KP size 0. Two circs. Aloha Cast on 9 sts.

Increase to 142,000 sts….not really. I just haven’t done the calculations yet. I know it will be more than 42 sts though. I’m at 31 sts (each needle) as of 8:45 pm.

June 23rd
Increase to 48 sts. per needle.

June 26th
Row 45 (~6.25”): Start gusset increases. At 20 sts add 1 st. At 21 sts start slip sts. End at 25 sts. Do 2 sets of non inc slip/plain rounds. Row 93: 9 7/8”.

Aug 2nd-5th
Turned heel to 11 sts. Begin new row count on instep needle after plain knit anti-hole trick on heel needle row (dec 1 st). Knit 20 rows on the cuff. Tried sock on recipient and it fits! Yea! (Total rows on cuff: 90)

August 16th
Cast on for second sock. WooHoo!

October 9th
Finished both socks. Just some ends to weave in and pictures to take. (still have to weave in the ends)

Yeah. So much for Summer of Socks. I got way more involved in Season of Lace this summer. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Mystery project for Christmas. Shhh....

Bits and Pieces

Early this morning I blocked two cloths for samples for the class I'm teaching tomorrow.

The white one is made with DMC Perle Cotton (size 5) on size 2 double pointed needles. It's about 10" in diameter blocked. I could have stretched it a bit more.

The pink one is Euroflax linen. Also on size 2 needles. It is stretched pretty much to the max and is about 12" in diameter.
































The Stove Saga...

Here is our new "COILED" stove. I'm liking the coils. Everything heats up so much faster! And now I've got a window on the oven door too. Whoo Hoo!

And we've made two boards to go over the burners when they aren't in use. So technically it is a smooth top most of the time. I love the boards! I can take just one off or both depending on how many burners I need.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

It was American Players Theater time last week. We choose to go to only one play this year. I'm so glad we chose 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. It was absolutely fantastic! So much so that we decided to buy tickets to see it again 3 days later...:shouting: at 10:30 in the morning! (For those of you who attend these plays you'll understand that joke!) We were hoping for a night time performance but those were sold out.

It was nice seeing it twice to catch things we missed the first time. Although my husband really didn't quite understand why we would want to go again to the same play.

We arrived the second time about an hour early. My mom and dad had about a 2 hour drive from a different direction but we ended up pulling in the parking lot within a minute of each other. We took a slow stroll up the hill. About 3/4's of the way up I turned and looked down the hill. Not far behind us were two of the actors...Marcus Truschinski (Puck) and Brian Mani (Snug, the joiner). At our slow pace they overtook us in no time. I told them we enjoyed the show so much we had to come back for a second performance. I also related how my youngest daughter really liked the high energy performance and antics of Puck. Marcus was so kind to pose for a picture with her! And guess who she is going to be for Trick or Treat! Yep, her Puck costume is all ready! Fur-trimmed vest, flower, necklace, purple hair and all! I told her if she is asked who she is to tell them she is "APT's portrayal of Puck from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'." :snort:
Picture of Puck and Bottom plus a review.

The "talk back" after the Friday performance was wonderful. Over 100 kids stayed for that and really asked some good questions. Steve Haggard, who plays Demetrius, seemed to still be in character as he was swatting/dodging bugs during the talk back. Too funny! And David Daniel...he is always a character!

Since Friday of last week we've got together 3 copies of the play and are in various stages of reading it (not the dumbed down versions). Some us have read it more than once since Friday. My youngest is having me read it out loud to her and she'll jump up and act out the parts. She showed me last night that she has started reading ahead but still wants me to read it aloud also. We enjoy remembering how the players had delivered their lines. If only they sold an audio version of the performance!

My pastor and his wife are on their way to the play this morning. I hope they enjoy it as much as we did! We sure wish we could have joined them today!

Upstairs is finished!

Blocked measurements: 19" x 60"

I increased the length by 4 pattern repeats. I had about 1/4 of the second skein leftover. I used size 5 needles.

The bind off is a stretchy crocheted bind off. We decided against a knit on edge.


















More pictures on my Ravelry project page.

Upstairs

My dd is planning on attending a Homecoming dance. She has had her dress for a few months and we thought a nice warm wrap would look pretty and functional for a cool October evening. She decided on the Upstairs Shawl (it is rectangular) after looking through the millions of choices on Ravelry.

We then had to find the perfect yarn. Of course I had procrastinated on picking out the yarn so time started to become an issue. We ordered some pink lace weight online. It looked the perfect color on the monitor but was too purple of a pink in real life. Then we tried Cascade Sock yarn. It is so very soft but after knitting up a swatch it was just too brown of a pink. Our last attempt was successful. It is Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in the Peppermint colorway. It is very, very soft and a pleasure to knit!

The pattern is knitting up fairly fast. Although I am working hard to get it done by Sept 21st to make the Seasons of Lace deadline. Plus the dance is early October so I want it done soon anyway. I am almost halfway done and I started it Sept 3rd.

The original pattern is in German. There is a Free Ravelry download of the pattern in English.

I decided to start the pattern with a Provisional Crocheted Cast-on so that each end would look the same for the bind off. I may also decide to add a small knit on border on the short edges. Then I wouldn't have to think about the bind off not being stretchy enough when it comes time to block it.

I can't wait to see it blocked! I wasn't enjoying this pattern when I did the swatch. It just didn't look right. We even decided to start looking for a different pattern. Then I blocked the swatch! Wow! That changed our minds completely!

Black Olives

Finished and blocked!

Size: 20" x 69"

The yarn is one cone of Rayon Petalspun (Art. 2025) from Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co. in black. This yarn is very soft. I just weighed what is left of my one pound cone. It is about 8oz. So I used about 1/2 of the cone.

It was knit on size 5 bamboo needles. I used circulars because that is what I had available at the time I started this project.

The pattern is one I was writing up to be a cloth pattern but upon knitting the cloth it cried out to be a stole. I thought it would look nice with a knit on border that complemented the diagonal main body. I plan to write up the pattern and make it available on Ravelry.

I chose this yarn because I wanted this stole to be able to be used with my swimsuit at the pool on those cool days. I didn't want to worry it would lose its blocking if it got wet. The pool closed before I finished but I did get to throw it over my shoulders once while I knit on the first border. I also wanted the yarn to have a bit of a sheen to it so it would go nicely with some of my outfits. (Not this particular outfit! I wore this so the lace would show up nicely in the photos.)

Summer goes way too fast!

NOTE: You can see photos of the projects in progress down the right hand side of my blog. And if you click on the picture it will take you to Flickr to see a bigger picture. And Ravelry members can click on the name of the project in the side bar to go to the project pages for the details...like yarn, needles and notes. There is no cost to be a Ravelry member and the wait to get in is about a day or so. (I waited months!) Ravelry is still in it's Beta stage which is why they are still using the invitation method.

Update on the Pi Cloth...since that was pretty much my last blog entry. The pattern is almost completed. I will be teaching a class in October for this cloth at my LYS. First class. I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

Black Olives...That is the summer stole I've been concentrating on the last couple weeks since summer is escaping so fast. I'm very close to finishing it. Just one short edge and about 4 pattern repeats left of the edge I'm working on. And then blocking.

Nephew's socks...That was another project I worked hard at this summer (although my knitting attention has been spread among a host of projects). I got one sock up past the heel with multiple fittings taken before my nephew leaves again for college. I've even got the second sock started and am past the toe. I'm knitting them toe to cuff.

Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery shawl is taking a back seat at the moment while I concentrate on these more time sensitive projects. But I can't wait to pick that up again. I've seen so many finished ones and they are all beautiful and different. (rav link)

Summer Siesta is taking a siesta. I'm not happy with the bottom. But I like the lacy part. Hate to frog the lacy part to get to the bottom but that is what needs to be done. The lacy part would make a great light weight produce bag.

Here's a finished item.....


I cast on, knit, did a crochet bind off and blocked all in one day! This is Snowflake Star by Judy Gibson. My Rav project page entry.

So you are thinking (and so am I) that some of these projects should be further along or finished by now. We've had some non knitting projects going this summer as well. Besides plenty of swimming, a multitude of sleepovers (more rightly dubbed awakeovers) and being "helpers" at Vacation Bible School we also painted the girls new bedroom. We had some water leakage and this is what resulted...


The room was previously all car-siding like you see in the left side of the picture. Now it is drywall and BRIGHT! Even the car-siding you see in that picture is now painted blue and the closet door painted green (you can see the door laying in front of the bedding in the next picture.)

Here's a picture of the bedding we found at Target AFTER the room was painted. It matches so well it almost looks like we had the bedding first and chose the room colors from that.



And for those of you not familiar with the power of Kahlua. Let me show you what it can do:



That is the back right burner. A crack also runs through the front right burner and the front left burner. The back left burner escaped the powers of Kahlua and remains the sole non-cracked burner.

Why did the Kahlua bottle want to jump off the refrigerator to fight the stove? Well, he was dragged into the fight by the strap of the water bottle bag. Or more correctly....I apparently placed the Kahlua bottle on the strap of the water bag the night before when I "drizzled" Kahlua over my ice cream and smashed up Oreos. What an expensive sundae (or Sunday...since it happened at 7:15am Sunday morning on our way out to early church.)

The stove is/was over 10 years old so we can't just replace the top. Looks like we'll be getting a coil stove again. Good thing I still have all my cast iron pans...right mom!?!

On the bright side...the Kahlua bottle didn't break and I have since "drizzled" more Kahlua over smashed up oreos and ice cream. It has been relocated to the counter top until a more permanent place of residence can be found or I run out of oreos and ice cream. (Like that might happen!)

How to Read a Knitting Chart

This is a great tutorial for learning how knit from a chart. It really isn't so scary!

Pi Cloth Experimentation

It was time for a circular cloth knit in the round.

This is a great way to practice the Lighter Circular Beginning (second half of that video) Or if you don't like youtube here it is in still pictures: last entry here

This is also a great way to get your mind wrapped around a knit on border. It is easier to knit a knit on border than it is to figure out how to knit a knit on border. In other words once you have the start of it figured out the rest is a snap to knit.


For the doubling rounds I used the knit in the front and back of each stitch so I wouldn’t have the YO holes. The pattern on the main part of the cloth was not from a stitch dictionary. I drew it in Excel. The knit on border is from a stitch dictionary.









Unblocked (smoothed flat) it is about 10” in diameter.










Blocked it measures 10.5 inches.

The yarn is Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc America's Best Article 960, Perle Cotton (Size 5, mercerized). Color: Lime #56.

I used size 2 double pointed bamboo needles (8" long) for the whole thing.

The pattern is still in handwritten notes but I do have plans on writing it up with links and details for the tricky parts.

Ravelry link to project.

On Other Blogs

On Drilling in ANWR......Do you know what ANWR is? Very interesting!

On the stupidity of the Clean Energy Act of 2007
Made in the USA....NOT! Watch this short video. Inconceivable!

On Follow up Visits. It hurts worse when you only have major medical insurance.

On the rising grocery bill....or is it lowering product content. Nothing new under the sun.



Sorry. Moving on to more pleasant things.

On the love of a pet....even a wild one! Another video but this one made me cry in a happy way not like the other video above. I want a lion hug!

On current events and topics discussed from a Lutheran perspective.....
Issues, Etc.: Christ-centered Cross-focused talk radio back on the air! Listen on your computer or download podcasts to your MP3 player.

Center Squares Dishcloth

I’ve been wanting to do a square dishcloth knit in the round for sometime. I liked the looks of this pattern.

I cast on while we waited for the fireworks to start. I used the Lighter circular cast on (second half of this video) with 8 sts on size 6 dpns. I didn’t want to come back and finish the center. Then I increased in each of the eight stitches to get to the 16 required in the pattern. I used Kfb (knit in the front and back of st.) for all the increases in this pattern. If I make it again I may try Cat Bordhi type increases (LRinc and LLinc). I actually use the Crazy Toe and Heels increase but it is similar.

I also did all 8 increases (the ones in all the other increase rounds) in one round instead of doing the first increase after the last increase in the round. I was lazy.

I also accidentally did round 1 as my last round. Oh well.

The knitted on border was fun and easy to do while I watched a movie.

The directions for the edging were very well written and explained. My grafting wasn’t the best but I have to really look to find which corner was the last.

This pattern would look really nice as a square shawl (yep, got shawls on my brain) or a blanket/throw.


Oh...the yarn. This is Peaches and Cream worsted weight cotton. The color is Passion. It was on special at the Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co website. Four 2 oz skeins (98 yds each) for $4.08. Plus shipping which was kind of pricey but I ordered a few other things as well. Shipping was extremely fast! There was a mishap in the packing end of the shipment but the company was very, very generous in making up for that error.

Latin Proverbs

Sorry....here's another Latin proverb I'd like to remember...... and I know my blog can handle that job better than my brain!

Vigilo et spero.

This saying should be fairly easy to figure out even without any Latin classes. For the first word...think Mad Eye Moody's favorite phrase. My personal favorite! I always liked to shout that out when I was reading The Goblet of Fire aloud to the kids. They loved that...yeah, right. But I also explained to them the continued importance "in real life" of what Moody demands. Am I being cryptic enough!?! Okay...if you want to cheat and NOT read the book click here. Personally, I'd read the book! All seven!

The last word I connected with Spanish classes in the late 70's. If I'm remembering correctly (and it is VERY possible that I'm not!), this last word was part of my sister's name in her Spanish class.

Why I am a Lutheran

"When Did I become a Lutheran?" This is most certainly true!

Twisted Trails

Happy Independence Day!

I finished the cloth I've been knitting. I am offering this pattern for free again. It is a charted pattern I've called Twisted Trails.

The cotton I used is J&P Coats Royale Fashion Crochet Cotton (Size 3). This is the navy blue although the pictures shows it to be a lighter blue.

I knit this on size 3 needles.

I'll be putting this pattern up on Ravelry as a free download and adding it to the sidebar here. But first I have to refresh my member as to how to do that.

Seasons of Lace

The other "big" start on the 21st was for the Seasons of Lace (Rav link) and the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl. This is a Pi Shawl. You can still sign up for this KAL (knit along) until the 30th of June!

Goddess Knits site to sign up for this free pattern
Yahoo Group link ...where the pattern is uploaded so you can download.
Group on Ravelry

Clue 1 was fast. Completed it June 21st. This is Chart A. You had to pick one of the four charts.



Clue 2 was released on the 21st. I finished on the 23rd. This is the shawl so far. I didn't stretch it out completely.



For Clue 2 I used Chart B....again four different charts to chose from. As of this moment there is the possibility of 16 different shawls. If Clue 3 has four chart choices again then we're up to a possible 64 different shawls. Then Clue 4...256 different possibilities. Then there will be one more choice at the end to make it bigger if desired....if I'm remembering correctly.

The yarn is from Handpaintedyarn.com
I chose this yarn for the color and the price. The color is Mares Profundos. It is a very deep dark blue - semisolid. As I hand wound one of the two hanks I noticed that it isn’t consistent in its width. Some areas are a little thicker and some a little thinner. There were some kinks too. I’m not a spinner but those little kinks look like some spots may be over spun???? No clue if that is the case though. Some spots don’t look spun at all. So I have no idea. Anyway…I love the color. I hope it blocks ok...and keeps the block! Most of the items I've blocked tend to shrink up again...sometimes on the first wearing.

I'm using size 5 needles. I moved it to 24" circular needles as soon as possible. The bamboo dpns tips were a bit too rounded for long term lace knitting. They did work to get it started though.

Charcoal Socks for Christmas

I cast on June 21st for the Summer of Socks (see previous post for links) with this Christmas present for my nephew. I'm zipping along. We will be seeing him on Sunday and I hope to have the sock to the point where the heel starts. Once I know it fits fine I'll cast on for the second one on another set of needles.

This is another Crazy Toes & Heels (see sidebar for link) sock to fit size 14 extra wide feet. (What did I get myself into!?) Gauge 10spi. Size 0 circular needles. Toe up. Aloha Cast on (9). Inc to 48 sts. Start gusset increases at Row 45.

The yarn is Pace. The color is Charcoal. I bought a TON of this charcoal when I did the socks for my dad and brother-in-law. Luckily that is the color that my nephew wanted as well. Wonder what color Nephew #2 will want??? I'll start his socks much closer to Christmas as his feet are still growing fast.

I bought the yarn from Loose Ends Yarn Shop before she moved down the street. This link will take you to the store owners blog for some new shop window pictures. Her new store is very nice! Even has a back porch if Knit Night wants to spill out into the out-of-doors on lovely evenings.

Tick, Tock

I'm biding my time.

I love knitting socks so I signed up for "Summer of Socks". (Link to group at Ravelry) Sign ups are now closed because the start date is fast upon us...Saturday June 21st! But that also means that I've been waiting and waiting to cast on for a sock. I really miss having a sock project along in my purse to take up those wasted minutes that present themselves unexpectedly.

I haven't cast on another lace project either because I also signed up for Seasons of Lace. (Link to group at Ravelry) Lace socks also count! Anything lace! It also begins June 21st. Sign up for that group is still open a few more days I think.

And I thought, "Hey, if I'm going to be knitting lace why not sign up for the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl Along group?" Whew, what a mouthful. Cut and paste comes in handy. Here's the Ravelry link for that group. The first "clue" was posted on the 14th of June. I'm still swatching and waiting for the starting gun for Seasons of Lace before I officially cast on for this circular shawl. Sign up is still open for that as well (as of today anyway).

I also started messing around with a new cloth pattern but it turned into a stole with a knitted on border on both ends. I've swatched for that too...but not with the yarn I want to use exactly. I've swatched and blocked with 100% mercerized cotton (fingering weight). I'm currently swatching with Euroflax linen (sport weight). But I've got some yarn (cotton/linen blend, lace weight?) on order to experiment with. I didn't want to spend a lot of money since this is all an experiment. And I wanted a yarn that I could wear over my swimming suit at the pool. Some not-so-hot days I'd rather throw on a cover up than an old beach towel. I'm cautiously optimistic about this project at this point.


Since there aren't any pictures...
This is Caesar. We inherited him from my mother-in-law after her fall last October. He is a friendly bird and loves to greet daddy when he gets home from work. He also loves his veggie/noodles, showers and chattering! He doesn't like to be pet but he does like to sit on your finger, or head, or toes, or whatever. This picture shows him getting comfortable on my daughter's arm with his foot up. Look at all those new little head feathers!