Mystery Shawl 21 - Clue 1

Goddess Knits Mystery Shawl 21 started last weekend.  I finally cast on today and finished up clue 1.  I was waiting on beads.  The first clue is always a very quick knit.  I still have not done Mystery Shawls 18, 19 and 20 or finished the Fall 2010 Mystery Shawl.  But that is okay.  I have lots of projects going at once right now, but it is not stressing me.  I just alternate between the projects in a sort of round-robin fashion and I am enjoying the variety.  The biggest challenge is finding places to stash them where they are not in the way, but not completely put away.

The yarn is Decedently Divine Decadent Lace, also by Goddess Knits, 100% Merino, 100 g, 880 yards.  The color is Living Coral.  The beads are 2-08-228-76 (Beadcats stock no.) red transparent silver-lined matte irid.

Athena Fingerless Mitts - One Done

I finally finished my first fingerless mitten.  It only took me three tries.  The fit still isn't quite perfect, but it is not bad, not bad at all.  I had to modify the pattern somewhat.  The first time I knit the mitten it came out boxy and was way too big at the wrist.  So I made the cuff smaller by 8 stitches, and added the stitches back in on the first row of the hand chart.  I also started the thumb gusset on row 3 of the first repeat of the hand chart.  Once I had increased the appropriate number of stitches I kept knitting and didn't  stop working the gusset stitches until I had completed 5 repeats of the hand chart.

I really love this yarn.  The subtle yet intricate variegation of the colors is simply gorgeous.  The yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Superwash Sock, 400 yards, 100 g, in colorway Athena, specially dyed for the ZenGoddess Lace Club.  The pattern is by Renee of GoddessKnits.

Avira - Clue 1

Yet another club - I have joined far too many this year, but I really like the surprise factor, and who can resist packages of yarny goodness arriving at regular intervals.  This is the first project for the Light and Dark Lace Club, hosted by Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden and Ruth of PennyRose Yarns.  For this project the design and the yarn are both from Ruth.  The yarn is PennyRose Benji, a 100% superwash merino, 100g, approximately 470 yards.  The color is Light Orchid.  The shawl is being knit from the bottom up, so we started out with 311 stitches.  This clue is the border.

The Unique Sheep January 2011 Crochet Blocks

I finished up my other block last weekend.  It was amazingly fun.  I've done bead crochet, and some crochet on my knitted projects, but this is the first all crochet project that doesn't involve beads.  I love the fact that the blocks are being done in a fingering weight yarn rather than in a worsted weight, which would be more traditional for a crochet afghan.  The next block is going to be mailed on Monday.  Here is a solo shot of the second block.

Last Wednesday we had a little snow here in King George - it was a lot worse north of us, we only got an inch or two.  I was supposed to go into town for a medical appointment but as we were leaving work it started to sleet, so I called and rescheduled.  Shortly after we got home I took this picture of our deck.

That is sleet.  We were very glad that we were not trying to drive into town.

Carol's Scarf-in-a-Scarf

This is a fun kit that I picked up at Dreamweaver Yarns.  It is by Hand Painted Knitting Yarns.  The kit includes 4 skeins of luscious hand painted 2 ply 60% Silk, 40% Fine Merino (400 yards), a 100% Silk 14" x 72" hand painted scarf in the same colorway, plus the pattern.  The pattern is mindlessly simply, just garter stitch, but just the thing to work on while reading a good book.  I finished about half of it while reviewing documents at work and then took it on travel with me last week.  I finished it up this morning while finishing "Sharpe's Havoc" by Bernard Cornwell on my Kindle.  I love reading on my Kindle, and it is especially nice for reading while knitting.

I have become completely hooked on the Sharpe novels.  Bruce and I watched all the movies based on the books, but the books (as usual) are far superior.  They are extremely well-written, with wonderfully drawn characters, plus they are historical fiction and Bernard Cornwell always includes an historical note at the end to explain where he took liberties and what the real history is.  I love good historical fiction (like the Steven Saylor novels of ancient Rome).  The Sharpe novels are all about the Napoleonic wars and Sharpe's career parallels the career of Sir Arthur Wellesly, the future Duke of Wellington.

Mystery Sock 2011.1 - Clue 2

Finished up Clue 2 this morning while listening to Car Talk.  I am loving this yarn and the color.  The only problem with Mystery Socks is that the clues only come out once a week, so I have to wait and I just want to finish these socks so I can wear them to work.

Mystery Sock 2011.1 - Clue 1

Another of my resolutions for the New Year is to knit more socks.  I have only recently been bitten by the sock bug.  They are a lot of fun to knit and there are so many cool sock yarns.  Last week I started a Mystery Sock Knit-Along by Renee Leverington of Goddess Knits.  I've been knitting her Mystery Shawls for a while now, but this is the first Mystery Sock that I have done.  The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select in Sugar Maple.  I love the colors and the way the scrunches in the cuff interact with them.  As can be seen in the picture I am knitting both socks at the same time, from opposite ends of the ball.  That way, when I finish the last clue I will have both socks done, avoiding the one sock blues.