Project Number Ten

I finished project number ten of the year today.  It was a light enough one that I could work through the heat.  Cooler weather is promised for later this coming week, so I will be able to work more on the blanket for Fr. Stanly as well as the one for my little peanut.

This is the Blue Easy Shaped Shawl, for me.  I started it in May and it is off the needles today, just waiting for cooler weather so I can wear it.  You can see a bit of the back in the mirror behind me.  The yarn is "Shawl In a Ball", in Soothing Blue.  It is a cotton acrylic blend.
Gertrude consented to model it for a better picture.

It is entirely in garter stitch, so I don't plan on blocking this one.  There will be more in the future.  I have another skein to make one for my travel buddy, Sandy, in pink and fuchsia with a touch of gold near the end.

And on the way home from our road trip, I also got another skein for me, in shades of purple.

Knit Sightings, in the Wild

This past Saturday evening was Hubby's 50th class reunion.  That's him in the striped shirt.

While I only knew a few people there, there were many faces familiar from around town.  But one of the evening's highlights was the sighting of a shawl worn by one of his classmates.  I kept describing it to Rosie, a friend we were sitting next to.  (She is legally blind.)  

I wasn't sure if it it was hand made or not, but it was gorgeous lace in dark teal.  Finally, after the meal, when people were up and mingling, I asked her about it.  

Yep, it was hand knit, from one of my favorite pattern books, "Victorian Lace Today," by Jane Sowerby.  It was one of the sampler shawls I have always wanted to knit.  And she whipped it out in two weeks.  And moreover, the border surrounding the sampler section is "true lace". Patterning on both right and wrong sides.  

But I am once again smitten by the pattern, and my fingers are just itching to cast on.  I have the book, I have some suitable yarn in the stash, in the color way Boysenberry.  I even some yarn I am tempted to buy, in a wool-silk blend in Silver to use instead.

I was pretty proud of myself for spotting it. And while it is fun to spot handknits in the wild, it can be bad for the WIP pile (Works In Progress), and sometimes the pocket.

I Said There Was Knitting

I ran out of room and time in my last post before I could share my knitting.

I have almost finished the second square of Fr. Stanly's throw.  The heat and humidity has slowed that down some.  Once I have the first two sides of the circles squared to much of it hangs in my lap.  Hopefully cool weather will be here to stay soon and I can whip it out.

While on my road trip, I uploaded a picture of some of the knitting that had taken place as of the morning of our second day.  I have continued to work on that, at least part time.  You know me, I always have more than one project in the works.  But this is a picture of the Blue Easy Shaped Shawl as of this afternoon.

I was on the Royal Blue when we started the trip.  The color is starting to transition over to light blue again. Every other row the rows are one stictch longer, so it is going slowly now.  But it is an easy knit, just like the pattern said.  I even bought another skein of this "Shawl In A Ball" for another one.

Someday.

I had started the first sock of this pair last week.  And now I am two rows from binding off the second sock.

My first sock with Fixation, a cotton and elastic yarn, and first time using a short row heel.  I had to use the extra contrast yarn on each side of the heel to stitch up the gaps after this picture was taken.  It looks and fits fine now.  As soon as I am done here, I will finish number two.

And as though I didn't have enough projects on hand, a friend gave me this at Knit Nite.

She had kept her size 4 needles, so I transferred it to a new needle and after a few rows, tinked back and tried again with a size two needle.  Much better.  Gauge does matter you know.  

I just need to finish the hood and then the front bands.  I also got a zipper today, so I may install instead of buttons.

I guess I have some knitting ahead of me.  As usual.

Road Trip, and Knitting

Since my last post, my BFF and I had a short but fun road trip.  Some of my friends followed the fun on Facebook, where I used a hashtag for the first time.  The #sandyandlindasupnorthadventure tag enabled us to see each other posts as well as anyone who wanted to vicariously join in the fun.

The first day was hot and sunny, but we rode in glorious air conditioned comfort, taking in Sea Shell City, Tahquamenon Falls (learning to spell it along the way) and Whitefish Point, with its Lake Superior shoreline and memorial to the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Falls, were thunderous and wonderous.  And I've never seen the big lake so peaceful.

After a nights sleep we awoke to a drizzly cloudy day.  Our first stop was a bear ranch, that takes in nuisance bears from the DNR, thus saving their lives.  While Sandy had her picture taken with a live cub, I opted for the safer, though fiercer looking fake bear.

Roar!

While heading down to US 2, the main east-west artery, we passed some sand hill cranes, and had to get a picture. 

And then while turning back around, of course we chose to use a cemetery, rather than a parking lot.

What else would you expect from the Cemetery Diva's?   We continued along  to the Lake Michigan shoreline.  It was doing its best to imitate the usual appearance of Lake Superior.

Even with the rain, we still had a good time.  It was down to a sprinkle when we hit the Casino for a bit. Later we returned to the land of the trolls, below "The Bridge", where we played tourist in Mackinaw City, shopping up a storm after a wonderful, if late, lunch. 

I got home after midnight, yet still earlier than I expected.

Whew, I guess I will leave the knitting details for another post.