Time for Knitting News

Enough about the move for today. It's time to concentrate on some knitting updates. Even with the upheaval of packing, I've made it a point to find some knitting time every day, even if it's only to do a couple of rows. It definitely grounds me and calms me.

The only problem I'm having right now is a terrible case of startitis. Every day, there's something else I want to start, but I've been behaving. Although there are things I should be trying to finish, I've been concentrating on three projects, all recent additions to my works-in-progress.

The Luna Moth shawl (free at elann.com) is coming along nicely, but I've been unable, mentally, to work on it this past week. I'm finding that this week is for mindless, or semi-mindless, projects. However, I haven't shown you a recent picture of the progress I have made.

I'm really liking how it's turning out and I think this will make a great summer evening shawl. I like the hemp yarn so much, I've been buying more of it. This one is, of course, 100% hemp. A while back, I bought 50 grams of a hemp/cotton blend and this week picked up another ball of it. That will be a project for another day. It was called "stash enhancement". ;)

The other shawl I've allowed to rest for a while is the camel shawl. That's not to say I haven't been working on it; it still is the perfect tv knit, mostly mindless.

I've decided to change the shape somewhat, as you can see. That's the nice thing about working from the top down on a shawl like this; you can change the shape quite easily. This eliminates the point of the triangle, making it more of a........ what? I guess it's a triangle with the point cut off. I think this will be a fairly large shawl once I've used up both balls of the camel yarn. That was the intention; it will be the kind of shawl I can cuddle up in, light but warm. Perfect on those coolish, damp west coast nights.

The other project I've been working on is the Shawl Back Shrug from elann.com. I posted a picture of the shrug a couple posts back; I bought the yarn for it last week. I would show you a picture of the shrug in progress, but right now, it really doesn't look like much. I'm having fun knitting it, though.

It's worked from the top down (no seams... yeah!!). As of this morning, I've reached the underarm separation and have started working down one sleeve. The yarn I'm using is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, on 4.5 mm needles. I honestly thought I was using 4.0 mm needles, until this morning. Oh well, even though the needles are not what the yarn calls for, I love the way it's knitting up and the tension looks good. I'm not frogging it, that's for sure.

The pattern calls for two different stitch patterns, Flickering Flames on the sleeves and Fir Cone on the back. I've decided to go with just the Fir Cone pattern. It's easy to remember and recognize. The colour of the yarn is a little darker than in the picture, a lovely denim blue with a somewhat tweedy look to it. I've noticed some purple in it, as well as bits of white. All in all, I'm loving it!

As for the pattern, it really isn't difficult, but I do find the directions a little confusing in some spots. The author leaves a lot up to the knitter, as far as measurements, stitch counts and such, goes. Once I realized how it all fits together, it wasn't difficult to figure out what to do next. Once the sleeves are done, I'll be picking up the fronts and the back and working them down, decreasing on either end until I have no stitches left. Then, it's just a matter of picking up a hundred zillion stitches around the entire body and finishing the shrug up with a ribbed edging. Won't that be fun? (uh huh, right!)

And that's a knitting update. Now, it's time to pack up the living room. Considering we've only lived here for eight months, where did all this STUFF come from???