It's a Wrap! (or shawl, as the case may be)

Here is my first triangular shawl and I think I am in love.  Shawls and scarves give me the same sense of freedom in design that quilts do--opportunity to play with design and color without having to worry about fit.  While I still haven't figured out all the mechanics of increases and decreases with shawl making, once I get a handle on that the design possibilities are exciting to think about. 

The other thing I love about shawls is that in this season of life where I experience my own personal heat waves during the day, the idea of having something I can toss on and off is very appealing. 

This pattern is called the Textured Shawl Recipe and is modeled by my lovely daughter, Ms. P.

Thus the allure of shawls greatly influenced my recent yarn purchases at a local fiber festival that my daughter, daughter-in-law, and myself attended this past weekend.  It was a great time of fibery fun--lots of lovely yarns and rovings, spinners and weavers, and cute alpacas.  We also took the opportunity to visit a favorite yarn shop, where the shawls continued their call to me.  

Here are the treasures I brought home:

This is a lovely wool/silk blend by Brooks Farms, one of my favorite yarn producers.  They only have their yarn available on line or at fiber festivals, so their booth is always a must.  They had several beautiful shawls made up from this yarn that were quite inspiring, so I am looking forward to finding the perfect project for it.

                                     

Next is another wool/silk blend that I will use to make a striped shawl, alternating between the neutral color and the variegated yarn.  Noro makes wonderful color transitions in their yarn, so it will be exciting to see how the colors play out. 

Thirdly, I escaped from the shawls' siren call for a moment to get another pretty variegated yarn to try a faux version of fair isle.  Rather than using several colors of yarn, faux isle uses one solid and one variegated yarn to create the color changes.  I am pairing it with a very enticing alpaca handspun that Ms. P brought me from her northern adventures this summer.  
Since color work is most easily done in the round, my first project here will be a hat.   

And thus concludes the latest of my wooly tales with promises of knitting adventures ahead. 

 

It Pays to Listen to That Little Voice

Recently our son and daughter-in-law came up for a visit with their two boxers.  I had needed to do some baking, so I had a bag of flour sitting on the counter waiting to refill my canister.  As I got the house ready for their visit, I thought to myself that I should probably move the flour, but got busy and didn't get to it. 

Note:  Exibit A

One morning we left to go watch our son in a cyclocross race.  We had a little surprise when we got back.

The scene of the crime:

The mug shot (guilty but not remorseful):

 

Note the white paw print on the carpet.  Next time I will pay attention to that little voice when it tells me to move something. :-)