Where am I, anyway?

It must be Thursday today; I heard the garbage truck outside our bedroom window this morning. This week is flying by so quickly I'm losing track of time.

I promised pictures. I have pictures. First... Icarus.

That's one pattern row short of Chart 2 (which I've now done and am ready for Chart 3). It was a little confusing at first, after all those repeats of Chart 1. Chart 1 is very repetitive, easy to learn. The remainder of the charts require a little more concentration. I'm taking it slowly. As well, I've almost used up one ball of the Jaggerspun Zephyr. There might be enough left for one more row. It's a good thing I have two more balls of it in the stash.

Second... Barbara

The yarn I'm using is Louet Gems Pearl on 4.5 mm needles. We have it at the store in 1/2 lb. skeins, meant for dyeing your own; I like the fact that, as 1275 metres, I won't have to tie in another skein. It's almost time to transfer to a circular needle. I'm noticing that the edge stitches are beginning to stretch a little on the straights. I thought about dyeing the yarn first, but I have no idea what colour I might like this shawl in. I could dye it afterwards, right? If I decide I want it coloured rather than cream, that is.

Here's a close up of how it's looking so far. Notice the arrow? It's pointing to the shoulder shaping. It's almost like a "seam", for lack of a better word, with yarn overs on either side. It's only 20 or so rows deep, but gives the shawl a bit of shape, enabling it to stay on the shoulders, rather than sliding down all the time.

I told John last night that I wanted/needed some mindless knitting to keep my hands occupied while watching TV or whenever I don't want to concentrate on what I'm doing. To that end, I started this little project last night.

I'm using Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester DK on 4.5 mm needles. Even though the tag recommends 4.0 mm, I'm finding it a fairly heavy DK weight yarn and I'm liking the feel of it on 4.5 mm needles. It's a simple 2x2 rib toque (stocking cap for those of you who have no idea what a toque is). At first, I was going to make it a fold up cuff, but after seeing it on the trusty old spaghetti squash, I kind of like it without the fold up cuff.



What do you think?

The pattern I'm (sort of) following calls for a "cuff" of 2.5" and then 8.75" of body before working the top. I'm thinking I'll try working the ribbing for 8", then going straight to the top shaping. Incidentally, the pattern I'm using is from (where else?) Ann Budd's "Handy Book of Patterns". Have I mentioned that I love her books?

The yarn, by the way, wasn't intended for knitting hats. I wanted to make a very basic Faroese shawl, garter stitch edges, stocking stitch body. However, after about 3" of knitting it, I really didn't like how the variegated yarn was working up, so I frogged it. The colours really are a little on the bright side, so I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Someone will love this hat, I'm sure. I even like it better in a hat than I did in the shawl. Any other suggestions for wildly coloured yarn?

Now, I wonder if that pie has cooled enough to cut. A customer/friend kindly gave me some rhubarb earlier this week and I've just turned half of it into a rhubarb pie. The house smells heavenly! And I'm hungry.

Rhubarb pie and vanilla ice cream... *drool*