Feeling Knotty

Knotty sounds a lot like "naughty," and that's how I feel based on the knitting, or lack thereof, that I have done this weekend. Other life events came up, what can I say? But I did stop and smell the flowers, and look at the butterflies, a bit, as evidenced by this image from the amazing garden in front of our church (where my musical partners for the morning were stuck waiting for someone to come unlock the building).

Anyway, my fine excuse yesterday for not knitting was that I went down to New Braunfels to look for a wedding dress at a very nice bridal/formalwear shop there. Katie from the comments/LYS took me there, since apparently every formal item ever purchased in her family came from there, and they sure know her! We had a blast, and I got a lovely dress in the exact color I wanted, and one I can wear my wedding shawl with --I am so glad I found one with sleeves but not a jacket.Don't worry, I will post a photo when the time comes. Katie kept asking me if she was pressuring me, but no, I do like the dress, and I feel much better knowing I didn't have to decide what to wear all by myself. This is the fanciest dress I ever owned: I never went to prom, have never been a bridesmaid, and got married last time in a suit. This is my big moment! Since I drove, I didn't get to knit until I got home in the evening.

And that knitting involved unraveling my second Shalom to the top border and starting it again. Why? Because wow did I misread the instructions. I am making this, because I am naughty and couldn't stop myself once I realized I had enough of this really weird yarn I got from the place that sells discontinued yarns to make a Shalom. This yarn is Leicester Longwool (an heirloom sheep) in a red and purple colorway. It feels, um, interesting. It is both slick and itchy. And let's not forget hairy. And heavy. The texture is quite different, to say the least. I had wanted to make something out of it, but only had 400 yards. That's enough for a Shalom! The yarn is so slippery that the first ball flew out of the yarn winder and I had to mostly do it by hand. I went slowly with the second one but wow, did it make a BIG ball of yarn. Anyway, I did get it started, but because I had made the first Shalom without the patterning, I hadn't paid a lot of attention to how it worked. I missed a couple of rows and had the twisted stitches on one side in the first band of increases and on the other side in the second. Oops. Ah well, this afternoon, while watching my son sand his Ebay pine guitar body, I got well into the third tier of the yoke, and I think it will be fine. My son has declared I will need to wear a thick long-sleeved shirt under this one, though! Photos to come!

I won't get much knitting done over the next few days, due to more rehearsing and singing, but after Wednesday, I'll be a knitting machine, I hope! Today's music went well, so I have high hopes for Tuesday. Nothing's wrong with having more than one hobby--and music and knitting go together real well.

Thanks to those of you who signed up as "followers;" it is fun to see your tiny faces. I mostly read blogs using Bloglines, so let me know if you get a follower indicator on yours, and I'll sign on so I show up!