So. How's That Shawl Going?

Well, blog-reading friends, I've let you down this week, but I worked so much this week that there was no time for luxuries like typing about knitting, and few minutes for actual knitting. I am really loving my job now that I have lots of work and really fun challenges, but sometimes it WILL cut into those hobbies!

But look here! I actually have been working on the Vernal Equinox whenever I have a few minutes. I've spent some really pleasant time sitting on our front porch, watching the birds and seeing what new colors will come up in the Jojoland Melody yarn. So, here is where I am:

Vernal Equinox in Progress

It sort of looks like one of those candy citrus slices, doesn't it? It's too big to stretch out completely, even on the really long circular needle, but you can get the idea. I am halfway through Clue 5 at this point. I've been through two purples and am in the second green section, but I do hope some blue shows up in that skein, somewhere!

I tried to stretch it out a bit and get a close-up so you can see the pattern a little better, but really, like most lace shawls, it won't be spectacular until it gets blocked.

A Little Closer View

I have been truly enjoying knitting this shawl. I like the yarn a lot better than I thought I would, and I am finding the clear acrylic Knitpicks needles make laceweight easier to manipulate, at least for me. I am not struggling with the double decreases as much as I did on the Aeolian or the red one that died. The plastic grabs just enough that I can pull on it and get the needles securely through two stitches without dropping any. OK, I have dropped one stitch so far. Not bad.

I also started a crochet project, my next charity blanket. Here is one of the squares:

Crochet Motif

The photo is rather washed out, since I took it with the Blackberry, but you can see it looks like a little flower in a square. I am using that bunch of Marble yarn in different colors to make the motifs, which I will edge in black single crochet when I am done. The James C. Brett Marble yarn is nice to work with, especially considering it's 100% acrylic. I can see why so many people I know have used the chunky version for sweaters.

The pattern for the crochet motif came from the book Under Cover: 60 Afghans to Knit and Crochet, which has no author--it's one of those Sixth and Spring collections. The pattern is called Harlequin Diamonds. I got it at Half Price Books, so look for it in used book stores. Well, look! You can get it from Amazon.com after all. There are more than a couple of reasonable and interesting afghan patterns in this book. A lot of them you just have to use your imagination and picture them in nicer yarns and more subtle colors. I'm good at that--I am also good at imagining houses without the weird decorating choices the current owners made, too.

That's about all the knitting (and crocheting) news I have right now. Because I am trying to teach my son to drive (manual transmission, so it's slow), I was thinking I wouldn't get back to my Monday knitting friends for a while, but, assuming it starts up again soon, I will be able to start coming again, because I will be able to do it on Wednesday. Of course, that means no Wednesday knitting. I am going to have to resign myself to fewer fun knitting nights than I used to have if my work continues to be so busy, but I can still read blogs and people's Facebook updates, which helps. I don't want to become a hermit.

Once again, thanks for all the comments on my comment-reply post. Please ask questions, because answering them gives me some fun fodder for blogging.

Ordered Something

I've actually made good progress on the Vernal Equinox Surprise shawl. Of course, they go faster in the beginning when there are fewer stitches per row! But, I've gotten through the large number of double decreases in Clues 1 and 2, and am now in the pretty pattern that makes up Clue 3.

Honestly, I thought I would never get out of the "tan" section of the yarn, which is what came up first. It completely matches my couch, too, so I will need to find another surface to take an in-progress photo on. But, now it's turning purple and quite lovely.

I am glad I am using the KnitPicks clear plastic needles due to their excellently sharp points, but the see-through aspect can make grabbing the right bits for decreasing a little challenging. It's OK--I am having fun and that's what counts.

Also fun is the fact that I finally got around to redeeming a gift certificate I got from my choir director to thank me for a donation I'd made to the music program (my old laptop). She'd consulted the other knitter in the choir (who, sadly, no longer reads blogs or does Facebook, just posts to some group on Ravelry, so she won't read how thankful I am) and got the suggestion to give a certificate to The Unique Sheep site. That's interesting, because I had never bought any of their yarn before, but had been reading about their really cool stuff and wanted to check them out! How fortuitous!

Pewter Earth Colorway, from the Unique Sheep Website.

I ordered two colorways of their Gradiance collection, in sock weight. The laceweights looked more fun, because you get more colors, but, like I have mentioned, I really don't need more shawls. I got the Pewter Earth (seen above) and Hurricane Meadow colorways. (See all the colors here, and let the drooling begin.) For the yarn bases, I got one in their yarn with bamboo (Sushi Socks) and one in their yarn with tencel (Tinsel Toes) in it, just because I wanted to try some new base yarns.

These yarns are certainly something to look forward to and I am having fun thinking of socks to make using these colors. No doubt they will be sort of plain! I will want to let the colors shine.

This will have to do as blog fodder until I can get a photo of the shawl.  Work is hard so there isn't much time to make things to show you!

PS (added April 20): I got an email from my blogging friend Dragonfly, who let me know that the photo above, from the Unique Sheep website, is actually a photo she took of her own yarn that she used to make the Evenstar shawl. Apparently their original sample's colors weren't really true. Now, how about that for a small world? I borrow a picture, and it's really my online friend's picture! I love the Internet. And am impressed that out of all those colorways, she and I chose the same one.

Started Something!

It was a busy week for me with not much knitting time, but I did make some progress on the Flaming Desire sock. I am approaching the heel now.

But today my friend Carolyn came by to pick out yarn and a pattern for her special birthday gift. I told her I'd like to make her a shawl, since I make myself so many that I really don't need another one. We had fun looking at all my laceweight yarn and looking at some online, too.

She eventually picked out this yarn:

Jojoland Harmony, Colorway 06, Rainbow

I am happy to work with this yarn at last! Maybe my bad luck with laceweight will change, too. I am trying out using US size 4 needles, which are bigger than I used on my last couple of laceweight projects. We'll see if I like it slightly more airy.

Once we picked the yarn, we decided to go on Ravelry and see what shawls other people had made with it. That was a great way to choose. You could easily see which patterns were messed up by the yarn's color changes and which were enhanced by it. I ruled out a couple of patterns, like Icarus and Swallowtail, because I just didn't want to do them again. Once was plenty, thanks. So, we settled on the Vernal Equinox Surprise pattern that was  a popular knit-along last year. I remembered that a couple of people in my old knitting group had made it. I still see one of them, so I hope if I have an issue, Nancy will help me out! Hers was really pretty. It's a half-circle shawl with a lot of pattern changes, like most patterns that come out in "clues."

I hope I can handle it and that Carolyn will like it. It is good that I have two balls of the yarn, so I won't worry about running out! I started and think it looks good, though of course the first color in the skein was the least interesting one, tan. Hoping it gets more lively soon!