Happy Monday!

I made good progress on the Wool Peddlars Shawl over the weekend. One 240 yd. skein of Magallanes went a long way. You can see where a new skein jumped in where the colour scheme gets darker. This yarn is chatty. I asked the first ball if I should knit two skeins alternating to blend things together better. I've worked with Araucania before after all. Nope. Wanna be Free to be me, was the general opinion. And the other skeins nodded with enthusiastic agreement. There will be bands of edging after all, so bands of colour shifting will just be part of the game plan too. I'm satisfied. It's a go with the flow project after all. I wouldn't try this with a sweater though.



I have now completed the required garter stitch section, and I'm ready to begin working the lace pattern. I know knitters who found this garter section to be endless and boring, but I enjoyed it. It was perfect weekend knitting to pick up at breakfast while chatting with the kids, or work mindlessly during movies. Very relaxing, and all the colour and texture change does keep it interesting.

Back in November, I promised a non-knitting friend of mine a prayer shawl to be made sometime after the Christmas/New Year thing was all over. Well...she reads my blog and has noticed all kinds of other goodies hit the needles and finish with a flourish, but alas no prayer shawl. She waits patiently, but I would wonder, wouldn't you? So I am going to cast on for her shawl today and work it alongside my other projects. A cashmere interlude.

R is getting a Birds Nest Shawl (from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls) in...da da daaaah: elann.com's Baby Cashmere (Cedar, but not looking quite so in this photo). Oooohhh....Aaaahhhhhhh...My fingers will be in ecstasy. And R can check in and see progress.

I've told the two shawls that they'll have to make nice with each other. No biting and clawing. Everyone will get a turn.



I received an Amazon order in the mail today: Two hot-off-the-presses new knitting books. I'm not going to give extensive reviews yet, but a hint or two.

Twinkle's Big City Knits looks like Tons of Fun. Cheeky, fashionable pieces that say fuck off to frumpy. BUT be warned: Just about every single pattern is knitted in (not chunky) but Super-Chunky yarn. Now, I knew this going in and it was one of the reasons I wanted the book. I like knitting super chunky. I like wearing super chunky. But I know full well that Super chunky is not for everybody. CatBookMom has accurately called me a sucker for soft chunky yarns, and I really am. I am also a sucker for great patterns for soft, chunky yarns, and this book is full of 'em.



I like this one, for example, and there are many many more.



Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel (Glampyre) looks like a book that I could gladly take with me (and my stash) to a desert island. Just from my quick look through, I could happily knit every single pattern. I could happily wear more than half of them. This book is going to prove to be a major distraction because I want to cast on about half a dozen projects out of there today. And I already have yarn in stash to do them too.



Some of the patterns are similar to ones you might find on her web-site, but on the whole, these go well beyond in terms of stitch detail, complexity, and variety. Patterns are for all gauges of yarn. Here are just two of the many things that tempt me today: