They Say Bad Things Come In Threes

If that's true, I've certainly exceeded my quota. My neighbor's master bathroom leaked into my living room ceiling, then I missed the memo about proof of dryer vent cleaning being due June 30. These are mild inconveniences compared to the loss of my father and my cat (separate events) and the potential for unemployment looming over me.

I love being a Knitter and I love the fact that when the going gets rough, I can rely on the support of my knitting community.

When Indie (the cat) died, I headed up to my LYS and sat with my friend Mary Lou, also a cat lover. I bought yarn for a hat class I'm taking on Craftsy.

The ladies in the community where my parents live(d) invited me to join their crochet group any time.

And rather than fret and worry about my job, I've been taking classes at Shaina Bilow's Knitting School. There such great positive reinforcement there and I'm making better progress on my WIPs.

Lucy and I are hanging in although we need to get started on the organization of my stash soon. Christmas is only 6 months away and we have two babies due this year. We'll post progress reports soon.

Works in Progress

The top picture is a front for the cardigan I'm knitting in Venezia. I wish I had a better camera to show the beauty of the stitch definition. As it is, I'm wondering if I'll wear it right side or wrong side out. This is great knitting for the bus--portable and easy pattern to follow (K3, P1).

The next picture is the Half Pi destined for my sister. She's going to celebrate a milestone birthday in a few days and she gave me a fantastic party last year for mine. I hope this gift makes her as happy as the party did me.

This Pi started when the talented Shaina Bilow wrote the pattern for a full Pi for me based on design elements I chose. Each is symbolic of some part of my sister's life.

I started out strong, but then it was slow going. I happened to have started a half Pi separately and started thinking I could adapt the full Pi to a half and that the half moon design was probably more practical.

I LOVE IT.

This is Setanova on size 4 needles. The first two sections are regular stockinette then the following sections are the Trinity stitch, because she is one of three and the Little Shell Stitch because one of her loves in life will always be the beach. I'm working on a section of tulips--when we were young, she added a tulip to every picture she drew and it became her signature.

After that, there will be a row of hearts which represents her love and life with her husband and then a row of Shamrocks which are symbolic of her children.

I'm not sure how long this will be and whether there will be room for additional sections. My options are paw prints for their dog, Noelle, or diamonds, because that's what she said she wanted for her birthday. Big Fat Diamonds.

I had ordered Swavorski crystals to add in certain sections, mostly to separate the patterns in longer areas. They turned out to be the perfect color but the hole isn't large enough to string on the Setanova. Now I'm thinking gray pearls. The search continues!