One

There was a plan to knit a shawl for someone.  I went through the stash.  I considered options, and finally it was the color that called to me.  After that, I searched through patterns on Ravelry, and the pattern I settled on Echo Flowers Shawl.  It had even been in my queue for a bit.  I had not been knitting for very long before I realized that the shawl I was knitting should actually go to someone else.  One evening I was knitting along and admiring the color, when my thoughts turned to my cousin.  She is getting married next month, and one of her colors for her wedding is teal.  From that moment, I knew that this shawl was meant for her.  So, I knit on, thinking good things for her and her wedding and this new chapter in her life.  My cousin has had a different and challenging life, and I have such hopes for her.  It is her turn for some good things.  

Anyway, back to the knitting.  When it came time for the nupps, I decided to substitute beads, and I am really pleased with the decision for a couple of reasons.  First, it looks so lovely.  I used the leftover beads from my Celestarium.  Second, when I finished binding off, I guessed that I would have run short if I had worked the nupps.  I only had a little bit of yarn left, and if I had worked the nupps, I might have run short.  So, it would seem it was the right decision.  Of course, once the shawl was off the needles, I was concerned that it would be a bit small, but it blocked out beautifully, and I feel like it is a nice size.  Now I just need to get an address, and then get it in the post.  

Echo Flowers Shawl (had trouble capturing true color)

 

Bunches of Boring

Life continues as it does here.  There have been struggles and setbacks, nothing special, but that is boring.  Wait, maybe you wanted to hear The Saga of the Sleep Study:  The Quest for a New CPAP (with surprise BIPAP ending), but you'll have to wait for the eighth, and possibly final chapter next month before that story can be told.  

So, while we're waiting to not tell that tale, what do we discuss?  Hmm...well, I had a knitalone instead of a knitalong due to a communication issue.  The pattern is Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon Osborn, in Knit Picks Shadow, TheLastChanceForThisColorwayBeforeThisYarnGoesAway.  This little shawl will go to family of family.  Earlier this year I decided the next shawl would go to this woman, it was time for the knitalong, (or so I thought) and here we are.
  

Speaking of what was supposed to be an -along but has been an -alone, I'm learning some Japanese.  Two or three years ago, our son bought Rosetta Stone, and he did not pursue it.  Then he asked us if we would go through the program with him--learn, practice, encourage, you know the drill.  Well, Bruce (who already knows a good bit of Japanese) made it through one lesson and declared it frustrating.  Taki has not made it through any lessons.  I've bought flashcards and workbooks, and made it through the first unit.  I started the second unit, and see that I need to maybe go back and do some of the first over again, as I am not doing well with it.  My progress has stalled like many a hibernating ufo.  

Now that I mention a stalled, hibernating ufo, and since we're talking boring here, I can tell you about the sweater I'm knitting.  It's not easy to make a brown blob of stockinette with too many stitches on the needle to spread out look good, so we'll just wait a bit for pictures.  The pattern is Featherweight Wrap to Knit, and I think I will like it when I finish it.  I'm just having a little trouble returning to the knitting of it after I took a break for some reason I cannot recall.  

So, what else have I been knitting?  Well, there were the four gnomes I contributed to Project Gnome Diplomacy.  

I also became part of a knitalong with Stacey for Julia.  I'm on the home stretch of this project, but the rows are getting a bit long.  Again, we'll just wait for photos on this one, but this time it's because I'm almost done.  Sure, we are likely months away from when I can wear it, but that will not stop me from finishing and enjoying.  I hope you are finishing what you need to complete, and enjoying at least one thing today.            

Guidance from the Groundhog

Happy Groundhog Day!  Yeah, so that was yesterday, but considering how far out of everything I have been, one day late is practically early around here.  Anyway, my enjoyment of Groundhog Day is ignored tolerated legendary, and people look to The Groundhog and the stars for predictions of the future, so it seems like the time is right to show this.  

 
Yep, I completed my Celestarium, and it is wonderful.  I finished it last month, and then let it stay pinned out for a few days just to admire it.  I haven't managed to get better pictures of it, but I am mostly ok with that.  I have covered up with it, paraded around the house in it, and pulled it up over my head and snuggled up under it.  Now that it is done, I occasionally think about knitting Southern Skies or Equatorial Nights.  Maybe I will, but not today.  

So, as we look to the stars and The Groundhog, do we have any answers?  I kind of doubt it.  Do I have any predictions?  Nah.  I might have a few guesses, but certainty is not really happening here right now.  Maybe I will ease into things with a few posts sharing a bit about what I have done over the last few months.  I will probably pop in with some comments here and there.  I will knit.   

And Then February Almost Finished Me

A bunch of boring things happened, but, apparently, they were a bit more than I could handle.  Oh, but it is all good, because I have more to share for February Finish.  

Yep, I finished Bauble.  I could probably work on getting a good photo of it from now until next February and maybe not come up with anything much better, so here it is.  None of the photos really get the color right, so maybe squint and shake your head quickly and that might be it.  I really like it, but think that it is probably a gift.  I owe (my own weird decision and imagined obligation) a shawl and need to decide between this and a Swallowtail.  Anyway, I omitted the beads because I did not think they really added much and was not sure if the yarn would hold up well to beads.   

The yarn is Malabrigo Lace in Jewel Blue, and I still have 26g left of the second skein.  I am thinking cowl--either Kuusk or Wavy Feathers.  

  

Coming Out of Hibernation

When I cannot find the focus to figure out what to knit next, there is usually a lonely abandoned something waiting for its time.  No, not that piece on the loom that just needs a little bit of finishing but then requires delivery.  No, not the Jimmy Bean's Wool Downton Abbey Mystery KAL, because I am waiting to see what happens with the provisional start before I go on any further.  Maybe I am just stalling, but I do not think that is the case, because I started the second mitt and have knit it to the same point as the first.  Besides, I have not set that aside long enough to consider it abandoned.  

For this go around, it was Bauble, and it seemed as though no one wanted me to work on it.  Each time I settled in to work on it--comfortable, charts visible and propped up nicely, all necessary supplies within reach--something would happen.  Mostly, it was the ringing phone.  I suppose that if I am ever feeling lonesome and want someone to call me, I could try using this shawl to bring about this type of attention, but I do not think it would work that way, and besides, I am not a fan of speaking on the phone, and want to finish this before that has the possibility of happening.  

The interruptions have kept me from making as much progress as I had hoped, but I only have fourteen more rows on the main chart, and then it is time for the edging chart with beads, and I think I have figured out which I will use for that, if I ever get to that point.  This seems to be one of those knits.