....a yard again! Yippee! This morning DH, DSs#2 & #3 and I raked all of the leaves in the backyard and my flower beds. Thank goodness - I can see green on the ground again. It was getting a little depressing looking at all those brown leaves.
There's no knitting news to report other than I've been in a little slump recently. I'm off-pace for the 10 shawls in 2010. I think Ravelympics did me in. To help me recover and perhaps inspire me again, there have been a couple of yarn-related purchases and trades, just as a form of therapy, mind you!
This is a Wollmeise 100% Kunderbundt "Therapy Bag" containing the "We're Different" colors of Petersilie(parsley), Merlot, Birkenrinde (birch tree), Versuchskaninchen blue (Agatha maybe?), and Baba Jaga, (deep reds, black and fuschia)....feeling a little better, thanks...wouldn't you?
This is Dream in Color "Starry" from a TLE update. I want to make WendyKnit's Miss Woodhouse shawl with it.
Surely these will get me a-knitting again....and soon, I hope!
.....and I did not....and I'd been so good about posting each week, too! But we've been having fun around here, so all is good! Here's a little recap.
I finished three items for the Ravelympics, but TWO of them were froggings. The other was a simple big needle shawl, which did not qualify for the 10 Shawls in 2010 because I read yards and saw meters.....stupid Customary units. It's pretty & warm & a little glitzy though, so that's ok. I almost finished the Circular Vest. It's being bound off now, but I'll probably have to go back and add a few more rounds. Who can ever really tell with cotton? I really hope I still like it when I'm done.....please....let me like it!
New yarn pr*n: The vertical yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga! and Bugga! All of the horizontal yarn is all WD Wollmeise. It's all very pretty, but lately I've come to realize that I may never be able to purchase a "first run" skein of Wollmeise again. Getting up at 3:00 a.m. doesn't work very well when you have to stay alert all day teaching 9-10 y.os and for the life of me, I can't hit TLE WM updates. No 3:00 a.m. updates also means there's no chance to buy lace weight. Are there no WDs in lace weight? Certainly there must be a few somewhere.....why not make WD lace weight bags too? Just a thought....(fyi - I just learned that there were Lace Bags in today's update! Who knew?!?)
And finally - family stuff. As I write this, I am trying to upload two videos to Flickr, both of my boys in their high school's production of Peter Pan (dress rehearsal video-please excuse the boinginess of the first one!). DS#2 plays Mr. Darling. His video is posted first. DS#3 plays Captain Hook. His will be posted second. They are our babies-our twins - and both seniors. As we waited to go into the auditorium last night, I have to admit that my heart was very full....full of happiness for them, love and pride for their accomplishments, and a little twinge of whatever it is you feel at transition points like this. **sigh** I hope you'll enjoy the excerpts - we certainly do!
The Ravelympics are at a halfway point and I've managed to complete three of my four entries. Of course, TWO of them were frogging projects, but they do count as FOs. This morning, I casted off the Opening Ceremonies shawlette. It's having a bath right now & will be blocked momentarily.
The big finisher of the week was not a Ravelympics project. On Tuesday, Day 13 of 13 total snow days, I completed and blocked the Enchanted Wood KAL shawl. None of the photos of the finished shawl do justice to the beautiful colors in the yarn, so to remind you of what a great job dyer Kelly did, I'm re-posting photos of the yarn skeins, the inspiration, and the best of FO photos I have. I was a little worried about pooling the brown section, but now I love every inch of its almost 60 inch wingspan. I've signed up for another Unique Sheep KAL, Moonfleet, and think you should, too! Unique Sheep Luxe yarn in custom dyed Winter Sunset
.....that is, this is the 12th consecutive day we've been out of school due to snow and icy roads. The month of February has yet to see students in our school. I'm still parked at the bottom of our driveway and the poor Explorer has been getting triple use, as three drivers share it to safely get up and down our road.
Yep, there's been no school, but there has been knitting. Lots and lots of knitting. Today, most likely my last day at home this week, I'll finish Clue 5 of The Enchanted Wood KAL shawl.
Last night, I finished Clue 1 of the Evenstar KAL -
and also knitted a little on my Opening Ceremonies Shawlette, a Ravelympics project.
I've enjoyed these snowy days, but now I know it's time for reality to rear its ugly head....time to get back to work and back to school. :( It's back to knitting at night for me!
We've had more snow...this time from Friday until about mid-day yesterday, Saturday. There was less accumulation this time, only 9-10 inches, but it was a very heavy and wet snow and coated every little branch and twig. Some branches got too heavy - like this one across our driveway.
I took advantage of being confined to the house, and finally finished Clue 2 of The Enchanted Woods Shawl KAL. This was only accomplished with the help of my Knitting Guru, Janice, who read her pattern to me over the phone while I compared it with my written instructions and my stitches. After we discovered the error - did I have the wrong copy of the pattern...don't think so....it was easy-peasy to finish.
The rest of the day was spent with friends who came to visit....from here:
Thank goodness for Knitting Gurus and Ravelry - with them around, a knitter will never be stuck or lonely!
That means lots of couch time watching movies, staying warm in front of the fireplace, and knitting on this: In this photo, I'm a little upset with the project, so it's on time out in the basket. It's The Enchanted Woods KAL shawl beginning at Clue 2. I have been fighting with it for a week now, but thanks to the magic of several dozen stitch markers, things seem to be going a little better. I'll not give up just yet.
In other knitting news, I've been gathering yarn for other 10 Shawls in 2010 projects. This is Tosh Lace in Iris. It's for the Evenstar KAL that's coming up in February.
This is No Two Snowflakes merino, silk, & cashmere in Spicy Foods. It will be for a Citron shawl and will be my project for the opening ceremonies of the Raveylmpics/Winter Olympics in 13 more days.
There's a little more yarn pron to share. I kept reading about these Zauberballs and just had to see what all the fuss was about.
Oh - so that's what all the fuss is about! Lovely, aren't they? I can't wait to pair them with a project. My break from knitting is over. It's time to head back to the warm of my knitting - and hopefully even more progress!
