Such indulgence! I had to go in to the office both days this past weekend, so to make up for it I skibbled off campus after teaching yesterday and spent the day knitting. Today I’ve got one two-hour meeting to go to, so I know I’ll get in another bit of knitting. I also got to meet up with Chris on Monday evening for some knitting (and trading!), so this week is shaping up much more satisfactorily than last week from a fiber arts perspective.
The Swallowtail Shawl is done, except for weaving in of ends and blocking. Here’s an in-progress shot from last Friday.
The colors aren’t quite right, but you can see the weight of yarn I used and the stitch definition I got.
I’m now happily knitting away on my own version of the Sugarplum Shrug (second project pictured as you scroll down) from the IK Holiday issue. I’m using some chocolate brown angora I got from Little Knits, which is absolutely delicious. The yarn feels heavenly running through my fingers and the color a delicious tinge of purple to it. I’m knitting the lace on a garter stitch base instead of stockinette, so that the piece has more texture. (Texture! Texture! Texture! I am all about the texture!) I’m also planning to come up with my own edging that can be picked up along the edges and knit in the round, rather than knitting lace separately then sewing it on as the pattern calls for.
The yarn swap with Chris was great! She got my lavender bamboo (all 2,500 yards of it!), and I’m also giving her two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill: one of bulky wool and one of babyloop mohair. In return I got a bag of three colors of Dale of Norway wool, five skeins of a silk-wool blend from Drops and a Rowan book. We are each of us absolutely convinced that we got the best end of the deal—which is as it should be.
What I would really love to be doing just now is designing my own shrug and working it up in the pumpkin-colored wool-silk blend I just got from Elann, but there’s not quite enough room in my brain for that project at the moment. The best I can do is play fast and loose with someone else’s pattern. I am perhaps a bit behind the times from a fashion perspective, but suddenly shrugs are striking me as the most delightfully cozy and versatile garments—I want dozens of them!
P.S. Here is my latest favorite thing to do on Ravelry: look at other people’s queues. I surf around the new FOs until I find something lovely, then I look at what that person has in her queue. I get all sorts of things to add to my own that I would never have come across by any other means. I’ve also just learned (breakthrough moment!) that I can add comments on the items in my queue, so I dutifully went back and added info on pattern price and availability, along with yarn and variation ideas. If anyone else is cruising queues, I want to be sure she has a good time in mine!