FO: Spring Leaves Shawl

Happy Easter to all on this cold but sunny morning. In keeping with the tradition of new clothes for Easter, Taenzer wears the Spring Leaves Shawl, begun 3/25 and finished 4/2.

Here's a close-up of the pattern--pretty simple, which makes it kind of a fun knit if you're not looking for anything challenging.

I couldn't find my T-pins, so the blocking was pretty rough--spread out over a towel and stretched as evenly as possible by hand, then left to dry. Next time I wash it either I'll have found my pins or got a set of blocking wires so I can do it right.

But for a quick project, I'm pretty happy with it.

FO! Spring Leaves Shawl

Finished the Spring Leaves shawl yesterday. It looks more like a scarf, but I haven't blocked it yet, so we'll see how it turns out. I'll post a picture after I've blocked it.

I knit for several hours both Saturday and Sunday, and this morning my shoulder hurts. Guess I'll have to limit my knitting to a couple of hours a day for a while, and start lifting those weights!

The problem with finishing something is that then I have to decide what to make next. I can always start a sock, I guess--I've got sock yarn out the wazoo. I've got a bunch of patterns for solid-colored yarn, though, and no solid-colored sock yarn. I'll have to get all my sock yarns out and take a picture one of these days.

I've got some Koigu--I could try some of the domino socks. I'll have to read the pattern and see if i can carry yarn or if we're talking about 8 million zillion ends to weave in.

I haven't really kept up with my stash database, but maybe I could look through it and see if I have any summer yarn. All I can think of at the moment is a cone of white cotton, which i bought to work with some kind of neat carry-along that has little white organza flags on it. Oh, and I have an assortment of Tahki Cotton Classic which I bought for a project I later decided i didn't want to do... Pretty colors, though. Maybe I could find or make up a pattern.

I'd like to have some cotton/linen or cotton/silk or linen/silk . I wonder if Little Knits has anything like that?

too hot

March. It's NOT supposed to be 72 degrees at 11 AM in March. Not in this part of the country.

Just took the Ts for a walk. I thought it was a nice long walk, but turned out to be just 45 minutes. Maybe it seemed so long because there were dogs all over the place and we kept having to cross the street. One of the reasons I'm so adamant about being out with the Ts and not leaving them unattended is that it's such a pain in the butt--not to mention worrying-verging-on-scary--to walk by a dog behind a fence or on a tie-out that's barking and throwing a general fit. I've had people thank me when I've seen them walking up the street and have pulled the Ts up to the top step of the porch.

Anyhoo, the Ts were impeccably behaved, I'm happy to say. They're getting the idea of this walking on a leash thing--as long as they have their Easy Walk harnesses on--Timber can walk on a collar, but Taenzer still needs the harness. And the first time we saw a dog, she barked once but quit when I asked her to, and Timber looked but didn't bark. After that neither of them barked. They watch attentively, but they don't bark. This is good.

I need to shower off, put the humidifiers away, get out the fans, and clean off the window fan in the bedroom. I've learned to store fans either in their boxes or with plastic bags over them, but for some reason I didn't do that with the bedroom fan. Stupid, Judi.

I've started a new project. It's not exactly delicate fantasy lace, but it kind of suits my mental state at the moment. It's the "Falling Leaves" shawl from Lavish Lace. I guess mine is a "Spring Leaves" shawl, since I'm using a yarn that's pretty, dusty pastels. Filatura di Crosa Sympathie, 45% wool, 35% mohair, and 20% acrylic. This is about as close as I could get the computer to reproduce the colors on my monitor; they're even quieter than this.


I'm not sure it's blockable with the acrylic in it, but it is ironable. I'm using a size larger needle than the ballband suggests. It's an easy knit--has a slip-k2tog-sso decrease, yarn-overs, and m-1s, and, as they say in the book, the leaves form sort of organically out on the edges.


I had originally thought I would make socks out of this yarn, and did make one, toe-up with a short-row toe and short-row heel. It seemed kinda shapeless and I didn't really like it, so I'm recycling a UFO. Some of my decreases are pretty sloppy, but it will be nice enough to throw over shoulders on chilly evenings, I think.

Oh, I made it all the way up to 98.0 last night before bed, and woke up at 96.8 this morning--much better than yesterday morning!