What's Up

Here is my progress so far. I finished Part II of Wendy Johnson's  2014 Mystery Shawl ahead of time, on Wednesday. It doesn't seem to be so hard now, hehe:

I'm still plugging along on my lacy cardigan, picking away at it:

There are almost 300 stitches there. It knits better, though, since I did this:

I am not spending all my time getting the yarn untangled, and that makes it wayyyy more fun. Thank you Nancy for sending me this little jewel! It's a Yarn Buddy, and it is like a lazy susan for my yarn. If you have ever struggled with a yarn that is fuzzy and got tangled up all the time, this is what you need. I just rewound the skein of yarn (with somebody else holding it) et voilà! It is perfect. It was a wonderful gift, Nancy, and I thank you so very much!

I saw something like this years ago in our knitting group, made by the knitter's husband (Hi Lynn and Jim!). She was using it to knit from a cone of yarn. When you knit from a cone usually, your yarn twists up and you have to stop and untwist it regularly, but the little gadget that Jim made let the entire cone revolve as you pull the yarn from the cone, thus transferring the twist to the cone, not the yarn. I always thought it was a useful little device, and I am glad Sun Valley Fibers makes one. 

I Wonder What I Would Do With A Brain If I Had One

I keep making mistakes in my knitting. I mean, All. The. Time. I blame it only having half a brain now, but geez ... seems like I used to do more with it. Maybe it's oozing out of my ears at night, going to Bermuda, and didn't come home because, well, Bermuda, baby! What's not to like? When I just have a few crumbs left of my brain, it'll be fine because by then, I'll just be drooling and staring vacantly and I will think everything is absolutely wonderful, hehe. 

Anyway. Here is the 2014 Summer Mystery Shawl by Wendy Johnson, Part I:

I had to knit it about eight times because of The Mistakes I made by not paying attention, and I noticed a mistake halfway up when I took this picture, but I don't really care. Only God is perfect. This shawl looks black to me, in person and in this picture, although it was very navy blue in the picture I took last week. Perhaps I should call it the Dopplegänger shawl :)

Strange Thing, Color

Color is weird. I mean, how we choose colors that we work with or wear or whatever is dependent on what kind of mood we are in at the time. How the color makes us feel is as important as what the color actually is. I always thought I was a bluey-green sort of person, but it turns out that I have way more orange in my yarn stash than any other color, so it must appeal to me.

Apparently I like purple a lot, too. Purple always feels good in my hands and, well, everywhere.

But, looking over my Ravelry projects I have supported all the colors equally, except black. I only have one black project.

 

Black is hard to see, but quite stunning when it is finished. Black is also hard to see texture in, so cables are sorta out, though I remember seeing a black Aran sweater once that was gorgeous. Black is good for lacework, though. Hmmm. I'll try to work more black into my finished goods, but don't worry! It's not because I am depressed! 

 

Dear Blog,

I missed you. My sister died on Memorial Day, and I kind of fell apart. You remember my sister, who did NaNoWrimo with me last year? Yeah. It was tough; still is. Anyway. 

Rachel loved to read my blog. I don't know why. But I figured I would post on it more regularly, because, you know, maybe she is still reading it. 

Let's see. What has happened since I finished Harriet? I knit a Doctor Who scarf:

I knit a plain pair of socks:

I did a mystery shawl with leftover yarn from the Pueblo Stole:

Then my sister died. I had a couple things on the needles when she died, and I have since finished them. One is a leftover scarf from the browns in the Pueblo Stole:

I had this wonderful yarn from Ball and Skein, that I used to make Snowflake Lace socks:

I started another pair of socks on Memorial Day, but they are not finished yet:

I needed something simple to knit on, something I could cry into. I am almost finished with them.

Then, I crocheted a hat with leftover worsted yarn:

That was a quick, two-day project. Last week I started a lace cardigan project with some of Rachel's yarn:

I haven't gotten very far on it. The yarn is fuzzy and tangles easily, and with only one hand, I find tangling to be really unfortunate. Today I thought about how to knit it more easily, and I think I have found the answer, but I will let you know after I try it out.

I just started today on the Summer Mystery Shawl from Wendy Johnson, which is pleasantly non-combative and easy to knit so far. I'm working on the first clue:

That brings me up to date. Happy knitting, everyone :)