Quote of the day

From a book I just started, Casting Spells,by Barbara Bretton:

"If there were any magic spells out there to help a girl block a shawl, I hadn't found them, and believe me, I'd looked.  Blocking, like life, was equal parts intuition, brute strength and dumb luck."

Work is backing up

So with the feeding of the babies & the new Xbox cord, I've been way too distracted.  I am not getting to the Ziggy Shawl until late at night and still haven't felted the latest sample for the Sea Bag.

I get easily distracted (damn ADD!) but I find that if I make a list and keep checking it during the day, it helps to keep me on track.  I just have to make time for knitting on that schedule.

So much yarn, so little time.

The ongoing saga of the Ziggy Shawl

And the Ziggy Shawl still is undone.  When redoing it, I realized that I didn't think it was wide enough.  Something I thought when I was knitting it first time around.  So I frogged it again, back to the beginning loop.


There are now 5 repeats of the middle pattern & the seed stitch border is 9 stitches wide instead of 5.  WAY wider.  But I think it'll look much better that way.


Unfortunately, the power strip for the Xbox 360 came a couple of days ago so I'm being tempted away with my game.  But I am determined to finish it so I can move on.


I have 2 designs left to finish for my ebook after the Ziggy Shawl.  A felted bag & a ruana.  Or maybe a vest.  I may do the Cockatiel Shawl as a ruana instead.  Or maybe both.  Sometimes I have to start designing before the actual shape presents itself.


My yarn for the Cockatiel Shawl/Ruana (whatever!) will be coming either later this month or early next month, depending on when Colin gets it done.  I'm having him custom dye some beautiful baby alpaca/cashmere/silk in Lutino Cockatiel colors (yellows & a spot of orange).  It'll be like all of Colin's work, too beautiful to use, but I'll use it anyway.  I have a drawer devoted to his works of art.

Slogging away

I worked on the Ziggy Shawl some more last night while watching a couple of episodes of X-Files. Great TV to knit too as you don't have to watch it closely, the conversations tell the story. Three repeats done, 16 to go.

I'm Baaaaack

Well, it's certainly been an interesting year. "Interesting" as in the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." I had to have major surgery in March & the recovery time is a year, but with all my other problems, it'll be 2. So, needless to say, I haven't done as much crafting as I wanted to do.

Also, we have increased our cockatiel production so I've been very busy with those. I am now hand feeding 3 babies, a new adventure for me. That blog is: http://sevenshadesaviary.blogspot.com/. Check it out for the latest baby pix & developments.

I do have most of the patterns done for my book on Moose Lace. I am working on the Ziggy Shawl and had it finished except for the last 5 border rows when I noticed a BIG mistake in the second repeat (of 19). I ripped out almost 200 rows. I didn't cuss. Much anyway. So I'm back to near the beginning. The good news is, the pattern is so familiar that I am making fast progress in re-doing it.

Ziggy Shawl

I've also been working on fast, easy items for craft booths this fall. Using the WWII washcloth pattern, I've worked up a bunch in different colors. I'm going to make some small soaps and wrap them in the washcloths for a quick & relatively inexpensive gift or stocking stuffer.

Not much of a poster yet

I mean to post regularly, but life always seems to get in the way. I am working on two different e-books of knitting patterns. One is Called Many Mini Bags & the other is Living Large Lace (or Lace Living Large, I haven't decided yet). The first will feature about a dozen or so tiny bags, the second will be lace patterns done in thick yarn & large needles. I have several patterns already, but need more so there are at least 10 patterns in each book. Then, I need to flesh out the books with general instructions, links to sites for yarns, and so on.

Update

Well, I do have another computer & I was able to retrieve almost all of my data so I have my patterns, including the 30+ pages of the Fern Garden Shawl. I'm knitting scarves at this point so I can have some for my booth at the Key West Community Collage Flea Market this Saturday. I sold almost all that I had, which surprised me, at the Grace Lutheran Craft Fair.

Maybe next week I can get back to working on the Fern Garden Shawl & the Birds of a Feather Shawl.