Crazy Days

I've been busy at work and I'm not complaining because, as I like to say, consider the alternative. But I have been lucky enough to be able to make a few visits to The Skein Attraction on Wednesdays, which is their late night. On my first trip, I found some Prism "Stuff" and Shaina wrote a pattern for me to make a pullover for myself. We added in some additional yarns like Colinette Giotto, Trendsetter Dolcino and Charm, Louet Euroflax and Luisa (can't remember who makes this). I'm using a cotton blend from Plymouth for the ribbing and am happy to report that I love it! It's so soft and I love the feeling. I'm knitting this on size 11 needles so it's going quickly--in fact, I started on Wednesday night and had the back done by Friday night. I love the play of different colors and textures--the "Stuff" is the color "Sky" which you can see in the photo here.

I went back last Wednesday to have them measure the back for safety and Adina helped me design a shell using Colinette Giotto. My vision was cotton on the bottom, Giotto on the top. They had something called Banyan from Colinette in stock--it's also a cotton blend and the colorway matches the Giotto exactly. I'm doing my shell in purple passion which is a surprising choice--I'm more of a beige/neutral person, but the purple is sooooooo pretty.

I need to post photos of the two shrugs I made for my younger niece--she made her First Communion a few weeks ago and her dress was sleeveless, so I made a shrug using Tilli Tomas Disco Lights. I loved it but later learned her dress had rhinestones on the top, so I quickly made a second version in Pure Merino. I think I liked the merino better because the stitch definition is so good. And my niece reported that the sequins on Disco Lights were scratchy.

I'm still working on a similar shrug in Disco Lights for my older niece who is getting married in August. I'm doing hers in Natural. I'm hoping to finish soon so I can have the shrug lined so we don't repeat the itchy problem.

I've also started another shrug for another young friend. Her color request was "rainbow" so I got a new yarn from Plymouth called Kudo. It's a cotton blend with rayon and silk and it's self striping (yippee-I didn't' want to stripe different colors and have to weave in all those ends). I like the feel of it and am considering something for myself too (I know, I have to finish the above mentioned projects plus a boatload of others first).

And if that's not enough, I've been working my way through Elizabeth Zimmerman's knitting workshop book. I have made half a hat so far, and cast on twice for a sweater, although I'm reconsidering which yarn to use for what. I really like the jerkin but with sleeves--I have a lot of Noro Silk Garden I can use. And some Manos. Or Brown Sheep. I did cast on for the Pi shawl using some Koigu KPPPM that I had originally bought to make a Charlotte shawl. The first 48 rows went quickly but my enthusiasm is already waning. I'm looking for lace patterns to work into it to keep my attention. I'm having a hard time imagining what this will look like after it's blocked and may be on a needle that's not large enough. But maybe it will be fine. Just worried about all that work and having it be a mistake, you know?

One of the challenges I'm facing is finding portable projects--with shaping and patterns, it's difficult to knit on the bus or a plane. Well, I'll just have to soldier on!