Wow, it’s been ages since I last posted. I won’t bore you with the “life got in the way and here’s what I’ve been doing instead” stuff. I’ll just say that I work at my computer, and for the past few months I haven’t wanted to spend my free time in front of it too. But, there’s knitting to talk about, so let’s get crackin’!

First, last week I released my newest pattern: Claire’s Shawl. Here’s a pic:

I’m so happy with how it turned out. It started as the 2008 River Knits Mystery Shawl. It was so much fun watching everyone work through the pattern as the design slowly but surely emerged on their needles. I hope everyone was pleased with the end result.

I’m sitting here on the porch at my parents’ house, watching the kids swimming in the 3ft pool….and trying to decide if I want to work or knit. Maybe I’ll knit this afternoon and work all day tomorrow. I only brought one project to work on: a pair of socks using Panda Cotton in the College Prep colorway. This yarn is wonderful. It’s cool to the touch and just glides along, regardless of how hot it is. I think I’ve just convinded myself to knit….

Okay, I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I last posted. Update on the Lacy Swing Top: using a smaller crochet hook for the center sort of helped. A little. But, I’m not too worried about it. It’s coming along nicely and should be done before the end of the month. I’m really getting a little too into this crochet thing.

I’m also working on another Tomato. This time I’m using the Shire Silk yarn I reclaimed from the failed Lacy Leaf Shrug. I’m teaching the Tomato as a class right now at RK, so I’m knitting along with the class. I’m anxious to see how this yarn works in this garment. It’s quite a contrast to the fabulous Malabrigo.

And, of course, the River Knits Mystery Shawl is still on the needles. The sport weight version is flying along, but the laceweight is taking a bit more time. Even so, the laceweight Malabrigo is a joy to knit with, so I don’t mind that it’s taking longer.

Finally: It’s time for the RK Secret Pal exchange to start! YAY!!!  This is always so fun. I posted my questionnaire on the River Knits Secret Pals 2007 blog. I’m having great fun shopping and planning gifts for my pal. I hope she enjoys her gifts as much as I’m enjoying picking them out.

Yep, I’m crocheting again. But, first, some finished knitted items.

I finished Aaron’s Wonderful Wallaby some time ago:

He loves it. He especially loves that it’s “electric blue.”

I also finished my Tomato, which I blogged pretty extensively about on the River Knits Blog.

In case you didn’t know, Malabrigo is now my very favorite yarn ever in the whole world.

Now, on to the current project: The Lacy Swing Top from the Sept/Oct issue of Crochet Today!  This is the center square:

See how the very center is kind of wonky? No? Here’s a closer look:

Now you see it. Yeah, I hate that. So I’m trying again, using a smaller hook just for the very center part. We’ll see how it turns out. The yarn is Silk City Silk Denym in a dark green. It’s been in my stash for a while. Honestly, I bought a full 1 lb cone of the stuff, then didn’t have any idea what to do with it. This seems to be the perfect project. I’m anxious to get the second square completed so I can move on the to the next step. Hopefully using a smaller hook for the center will solve my wonky problem.

BTW: I’m also still working on the River Knits Mystery Shawls. Once I get one finished, I’ll post more about the details.

And what a birthday it was!  It started with breakfast at my parents’ house. Biscuits and gravy. Pancakes. Fried potatoes. Mmmmmmmm. Then back home to sit and knit for a while. This afternoon, we returned to Mom and Dad’s to drop of the kids so Tim and I could go to the movies (Harry Potter) and then to Nine Irish Brothers for dinner. If you are ever in West Lafayette and craving Shepherd’s Pie, this is the place to go! But be sure to just get a half order so you have plenty of room for the Creme Brulee Bread Pudding for dessert. Super tasty!

But, let’s back up a minute and talk about the knitting I did today.

Traditionally, there are two days of the year when I always cast on a new project: January 1 and August 5.  The first is New Year’s Day and the second is my birthday. Both carry the same philosophy: New year, new project.  And these can’t just be any project. They must be something a bit challenging. This year, one January 1, I cast on the Faux Russian Stole.  I only have 1 1/2 repeats left before it’s finished. If I finish it in 2007, it will be the first time I’ve finished a New Year’s project the same year that I cast it on. It’s totally doable. I can see myself wearing it at Christmastime.

Which brings us to my birthday project. Last year, I will admit that I didn’t cast on a new project on my birthday. Instead, I ripped out an entire sweater because I hated the way it looked on me. And I wasn’t about to waste 17 balls of Noro Kureyon on an ill-fitting sweater. But this year will be different.

I have 5 skeins of Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino and a plan. Of course, I can’t share my plan with you because it’s the River Knits 2008 Mystery Shawl*. So you won’t get to see finished pictures until June 2008. But, I’m hoping to have the shawl finished by October or November. I also believe it will only take 3 or 4 skeins of this yarn, so a mobius scarf may be in line for the leftovers. (By the way, the color is Tuareg, and I love it. After spending a good portion of the afternoon with this yarn, I can honestly say I’m in love.)

I was also gifted with a lace blocking kit from Tim and the kids and two skeins of Malabrigo and a book from Elizabeth and Michelle:

I thought the combination was a little ironic. No Sheep for You and two skeins of wool yarn. But I like irony. This yarn (and the lacweight version above) is heavenly soft. I haven’t decided yet what these two wonderful skeins will become….maybe mittens and a neckwarmer. Or a shrug. Or a little shoulder shawl. It will speek to me and tell me what it wants to be in time.

All in all, definitely a good birthday. I’m thankful to be a year older. Now I’m going to go do some online browsing because I have some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket.

*More on the 2008 River Knits Mystery Shawl as we get closer to 2008. I can tell you this: I’m working on writing the pattern (and test-knitting it) in three yarn weights: lace, fingering, and sport. I’m excited about it and greatly enjoying the knitting.

Wow! I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing and easy going. Not a care in the world. Right. I’ve been working quite a bit this summer and, as a result, I don’t want to spend my free time in front of the computer. Thus, the huge gap since my last real blog entry. So, let’s play catch up!

Like everyone else in the civilized world, I spent last weekend reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

To some, this would mean a complete loss of knitting time. However, when you just have something in plain stockinette in the round like….oh, I don’t know…. a Wonderful Wallaby, you can make a surprising amount of progress while reading 759 pages!

I’ve worked on it a little since finishing the book, but the bulk of the knitting was completed while reading. If you choose to knit while you read, I have one word of caution. Pay attention to what color yarn you are picking up when you are ready to knit stripes. If you aren’t careful, you’ll end up with this:

Those aren’t two different dye lots of green. They are two completely different colors. Silly mistake, but at least it isn’t glaring. At least they are both green.

Other knitting I’ve been doing: The MS3:

I haven’t started Clue 4 yet because I’ve been busy reading. However, that’s on my agenda for this weekend.

Yesterday, I started this:

It’s the Stag Bag from the current issue of KnitScene. If you want to make one, but you’re a little intimidated by it, I’ll be teaching a class on it at River Knits this fall. Come join us. (BTW: I’m in love with this yarn! It’s the new Ultra Alpaca Light from Berroco. YUMMY!!!)

Finally, I’ll leave you with something….um……interesting. Last week, I went to the library to pick up a book that was on hold for me. While I was there, I decided to look at crochet books. I *always* look at the knitting books, so I thought this would be a nice change. Well, I found this:

Yes, that’s a man smoking a pipe and crocheting. Inside the book, there’s this picture of the same guy:

Isn’t that a riot?!  The best part is that this book is REALLY great!  There’s tons of good info and excellent illustrations. As well as the standard bizarre garments. (Warning: All of the instructions are British, so if you decide to check out this book sometime, be forewarned. The terminology is a little different than what we use in the States.)

So, that’s what I’ve been up to. Now, I better get back to work! 

I know it’s been a few weeks since I last posted. I wish I could say I’ve been spending my time playing on Ravelry. I haven’t. I’ve been busy busy busy. And I’m just posting a quick note to say this: I promise a full post detailing my latest fibery fun as soon as I finish reading the latest and final installment of the Harry Potter story. It may take a few days, but I promise.

I’ve been tagged by Laura to do the Birthday Meme. The rules are: Go to Wikipedia, look up your birthday and post 3 events, 2 birthday and a holiday; then tag 5 people. So, here goes (except I’m not tagging anyone because Laura already tagged everyone I would have tagged).

August 5

1305 - William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.

1861 - The US Army abolished flogging.

1957 - American Bandstand debuts on ABC television.

Birthdays:

1850 - Guy de Maupassant

1930 - Neil Armstrong (and here I thought we just shared an alma mater)

Holiday:

Independence Day in Burkina Faso. (10 points to anyone who knows where Burkina Faso is without looking it up)

Fun! I’m sort of partial to This Day in History on the History Channel’s website. It doesn’t list all the births and deaths and holidays, but it does give good in-depth info on the big occurences on that day. 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve finished a number of projects: Two summer sweaters for me, a tank top for Victoria, a pair of socks for CIC, and these socks for me (my design, pattern coming soon! I talked about designing these last week).

All in the last two and a half weeks. Now, I don’t know what I want to work on.

It’s not that I don’t have projects on the needles right now. I do. Believe me. But none of them are particularly appealing right now. None of them are mindless and small…like socks. But I don’t feel like knitting socks. I love socks, just not in the mood for that right now.

I just spent some time modifying the Shaped Lace Tee pattern from Knitting Lingerie Style. I have it all charted and ready to go. I even have enough red Cascade Sierra to knit it. The lace pattern is simple enough to fall into the “mindless” category. But I don’t feel like it.

What’s a girl to do?

Maybe I need to do something completely different for a while. Then the knitting will come. Something will inevitably jump out at me and demand to be knitted. Right?

 I finished this last week and just thought you’d like to see it.

The yarn is leftover Papiro from my summer sweater. The bottom half is feather and fan just like the Ophelia Poncho. In fact, I followed the Ophelia chart exactly until I had a decent number of stitches, then I continued straight to desired length. (I promise good close-up pics as soon as Tim gets me a new camera…which will be one day this week.)

Or, how I spent my afternoon.

Today was a busy day. I knew from the moment I woke up it would be busy. We had lots of plans. We went to my parents’ house to help them build a deck. The kids had a blast. They spent the day outside, playing in the hose and in the creek. It was great fun. Until one of them–Aaron–came inside and walked into the kitchen where the floor was wet. His feet flew out from under him, and he bashed his head against the corner of the cabinet, which resulted in a sizeable gash in his forehead. A trip to the urgent care center led to 6 stitches:

He was such a brave boy. The screaming and the blood when he first fell was unbelieveable. But, we went right away to urgent care and they got us right in. He waited patiently to see the doctor and he didn’t even flinch when they were working on him….of course, the numbing cream and local anesthetic probably helped, but he was great. An hour later, you would never have guessed anything happened to him. He was right back to playing and running around and acting crazy.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall at preschool tomorrow….