Nerveracking

So, you know when you're knitting on a project and you start to seriously worry about running out of yarn? Well that was me in a big way earlier today. But all is well. I managed to bind off with tiny bit of yarn to spare.

Here's a closer look at all the leftover yarn:

And here's the shawl blocking:

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark, from Fibertrends

Yarn: Zephyr Wool/Silk laceweight in Ice Blue from Sarah's Yarns, just 2 ounces (630 yards) For the record, that's less than $6 for the yarn!

Needles: Knitpicks Options size 6

Size: I knit the smaller size. It blocked to about 70" x 35"

This is my second Leaf Lace Shawl and I do love the pattern. It's a great beginner lace pattern. The instructions are excellent, very clear and thorough. This one is a gift for a friend.

I'm looking forward to my next lace project. Still deciding which one. First I may do some quick and easy stuff - more baby hats, socks, etc. for that instant gratification.

A Regular Tuesday Evening

I'm moving along on my leaf lace shawl. I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to worry about whether I'll have enough yarn to finish it. Pretty sure I will though. I think I will finish this repeat and then move on to the edging lace pattern. And hopefully it'll block out to a decent size. I think it currently has as many repeats as the one I made for myself, so that seems alright. I wouldn't mind if it were a little bigger, but I'm not going to push it since I'm already cutting it pretty close on the yarn. I only ordered 2 ounces (630 yards) of this yarn. Cheap cheap. I'm very pleased with it though!



And here's the scene at home this evening. Good dogs . . . and singing husband . . .
...and me happily knitting my lace. All is well.

Room Redo & a Simple Sock

I've been awfully quiet here lately. I've got lots of non-knitting stuff going on these days and it's consuming a lot of my time and attention. It's all good though.

We finally finished painting our office room. The wallpaper removal and subsequent wall repair turned out to be a bigger project than we anticipated, but now that it's all done I am ver pleased. We painted the walls a color called "Provence Yellow" and the trim is a cheery teal/turquoise called "Surf Blue", plus a few brownish accents, a color called monkey king or something like that.

Here's the before picture:

I'm pleased with the end result. We still need to get rid of some of the furniture that was in that room and add some decorative touches, but so far it is a huge improvement.

And on the knitting front, I've been working away on my leaf lace shawl. For some reason every row seems to take me much longer than it ought to. But I'm not in any hurry, so that's okay too. And I started a basic sock in some knitpicks simple stripes that I've had for ages and was not too thrilled with the colors, but lately it feels like just the thing - happy and bright colors, easy peasy knitting to carry around with me.

I see that our local knitting guild is putting on a "Sock Symposium" next month. I'm thinking maybe I'll make an effort to go to this event. I joined the knitting guild recently thinking it would be good for me to meet some other knitters and go to some of their "Knit at Nights". But I still haven't worked up the nerve to attend any of those meetings. I am so lame! I'd like to connect with some other real life knitters, but I just hate going to stuff where I don't know anybody. I'm painfully shy. But this sock symposium sounds like it might be a structured enough event that I may just be brave enough to make an appearance. Anyway, it's a whole month away.

And last weekend's movie roundup... we watched "Children of Men", which was a little bit disturbing, but very engaging and thought-provoking. My husband was more troubled by the movie's depressing depiction of the future and I think was left feeling troubled by the film. "Happy Feet" - we almost shut it down after the first 20 minutes or so because it just seemed so sappy. But then we kinda got into it and really enjoyed it more than we expected. Those South American penguins were a crack-up. We also watched a very charming documentary called "My Date with Drew", about a 27 year old guy in LA who has had a crush on Drew Barrymore since he was a kid and he wants very much to meet her so he makes a film about his impressive attempts to get a date with her. It's really a pretty sweet and funny movie.

Tonight's my favorite TV night of the week - The Daily Show, The Office, Grey's Anatomy. Oh how I love Thursdays! Plus, I don't work on Fridays so this is the beginning of big weekend fun. Have a fabulous weekend!

Tidal Wave

Pattern: Tidal Wave Socks - free pattern from Southwest Trading Company

Yarn: Tofutsies - color #730, Light Foot

Needles: Size 0 Addi Turbos - 40" magic loop

Thoughts: This was a fun, easy pattern. I love the yarn. It is so soft and luscious. Next time I will add a couple more pattern repeats for a longer leg. These are not for me, but I will definitely use this sock yarn again. This color may not be ideal for my scary white/pink legs.

Leaf Lace 2

I finished my Tidal Wave Tofutsies socks... will post pictures later. And I started another lace project. Oh how I love thee lace.


It's Evelyn Clark's Leaf Lace Shawl in Zephyr Wool Silk, in Ice Blue, ordered from Sarah's Yarns (a great deal by the way).

It's for my friend Bette. I am so pleased to be working on another lace shawl. I have loads of laceweight yarn now, and a list of other lace shawls I'm dying to start. I'm doing this one again because Bette loved the one I made for myself, and because I only ordered 630 yards of yarn. I hope it's enough. Others on my list are the Arctic Diamonds Stole from the Winter, 2006 Interweave Knits, the Kimono Shawl from Folk Shawls. Maybe the Bird's Nest Shawl from the same book. There are so many fabulous lace patterns out there! I'm open to suggestions too, so if you've got ones you love, leave a comment!

Oh, a couple quick movie reviews . . .we watched "Volver" last night. It was wonderful! Last weekend we watched the new James Bond movie - "Casino Royale". Hated it! I seriously do not get how that managed a PG-13 rating. I thought the violence was pretty awful. But I'm a little sensitive that way. Up next . . . "Children of Men" and "Happy Feet".

Happy Easter to all!