Happy New Year!

Anyone who knows me or has been reading for a while knows I am addicted to shawls. So, when a little birdy whispered in my ear that there was a group starting on Ravelry called 10 Shawls in 2010, what was I to do? Join and start planning of course!

Well, it is almost midnight in Olso, Norway. When it is 1 second past, we can begin. I feel lucky that I'm six hours behind. I get to start stitching at 6pm! What will the first shawl be? Well, since I am working on a large one for a friend, I picked a smaller one: All Shawl by Doris Chan. I have a skein of Sapphire Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn that has needed a project for a while. Soon it will be a shawlette!

Happy New Year to all (whatever time it begins where you are)!!!!!

Refreshed

I've been making so many large projects, that I forgot the joy of quick little ones. Thanks to the dishcloth swap, I've been refreshed. Perhaps I should intersperse some hats in with the larger projects for that little rush of success. After all, one can only use just so many dishcloths! ;-)


Create Your Own

Patterns: Fish Washcloth/Dishcloth, Super Simple Tawashi Flower, Amikomo 3-28, N-592 Ohina Tawashi, Fire Blossom Dishcloth, and Simple Scrubby

Homeward Bound

In less than a week, I will be a homeowner for the first time. I wanted a house, but could afford a condo. So, I searched until I found the comforts I wanted. Now I'm looking forward to (in no particular order):

1) Having a dish washer again. It's been about 20 years.
2) Having a garage! I am so tired of scraping icy windows and shoving snow off my car.
3) A washer and drier in my home. No more common laundry. No running up and down the stairs. No more waiting for a machine or for people to move their clothes.
4) If it's broken or doing something strange, I can just take care of it rather than waiting and waiting for maintenance.
5) An extra bedroom for guests. =-)
6) Using something bigger than a tack nail to hang things on the wall.
7) NO MORE BUILDER BEIGE rugs!!!
8) Walls that are colored instead of white, white, white everywhere I look.
9) Furniture purchased to suit the space.

Oh, I could go on and on. I'm so excited and grateful that the current market conditions have helped bring this about, at last!

The circular lace afghan was meant for the guest bedroom whenever I found a place. Perhaps, that is why I have not frogged or swatched the new version. Perhaps, I'm waiting to be home.

Flashy Fiber

The other day I was in the LYS looking for a semisolid fingering weight yarn to make a lace scarf. Um, this one. Anyway, I walked by a display with a big fluorescent sign stating, "Do not work with this yarn pulling from the center. It will tangle. It is designed to be worked from the outside." I looked, at the yarn in the baskets, but didn't see anything unusual. Just the typical skeins. I wondered, but moved on.

I kept shopping and walking by that sign. I could not stand it any longer and decided to dig through the baskets. That's when I discovered this: The sign was referring to these Zauberballs. It didn't take long for one to jump up and demand to be taken home. (I'm a sucker for purples). No pics yet, but it is transforming into the aforementioned lace scarf, beautifully.

Oh, and speaking of lace, yes, Halia is no more. I have not, however, gotten around to the circular afghan. I guess it needs some more time in time out.

Then there is the scarf I made from Wisdom Poems using half double crochet. The colors were so beautiful I realized a simple textured stitch was the way to go.

I'm really happy with the result. It is headed for the local women's shelter as requested by the author of the Halia pattern. I hope it keeps someone nice and warm this winter.

Not Quite

These two projects have been in time out for a while. I've been trying to work up the courage to frog them...

This is the All Around Throw.It started out really well. Beautiful lacy center which lay beautifully flat. I imagined it laid out on a bed in my spare-bedroom-to-be. But...

In the end, there was extra material. There is no way to lay this out flat. Now I understand why it was photographed over the end of a bed. I thought the drape was simply because of the way it was laid out. Live and learn! So, here is the plan. I'm going to rip out the last ball of yarn and restart. I'll use two less sections. With luck the center will lay flat and I can just follow the rest of the pattern as written. If it does not lay flat I'll have to decide if I should rip it out or put the last ball back on and call it a day.

Then there is Halia. A beautiful pattern I just fell in love with immediately. A quick search of a LYS yielded this lovely natural BFL. It is just the color I need to round out my shawls/wraps.

Everything was going beautifully. The lace is lovely and has a nice rhythm to the work. But...
Upon starting the second half I got these! The staring edge is arched, but the pattern does not allow for filling in this arch when beginning the second half. Pulling them together results in this extra fabric. I could try blocking it out, but I'm pretty certain it will just reappear. NOT attractive. This one is destined for the frog pond never to return.

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Now, what shall I do with the lovely wool...?