Wool Gathering

I have finally gotten around to washing and blocking several of my projects which means I finally have pictures to show.  First up is a shawl pattern by a favorite designer of mine--Jared Flood.  The pattern is called Terra, and the yarn color I used is Black Cherry.  Therefore I present to you Cherry Terra:

The yarn is actually a darker red with a hint of black in it (the iPhone camera is not the best in capturing color).  The shawl is large, and just the thing to throw over my shoulders when I need a bit of extra warmth.  Going through my yarn stash, I found that I have enough yarn in several basic colors to make myself some more large shawls (happy me!), and have gotten one started since.  

Knitting and beads--what a lovely result!  The shawl I made to wear to my niece's wedding came off the needles about three days before her wedding--just enough time to get it washed and blocked.  The name of this shawl is Dusk, and the combination of the yarn color and beads had the effect I hoped for--stars just coming out in the evening:

One of my husband's sisters really like it and requested a shawl for herself.  Because I thought this pattern didn't really fit her style, I sent her a link for another pattern from my Ravelry queue.  She approved, and over the holidays I will take some yarn and beads from my stash that I think will work well.  That will be my next shawl project after my current one. Doesn't look like my needles will be idle any time soon.