In which my soul finds me?

In which the excitement mounts

The mystery shawl listserv is heating up...to the tune of thousands of participants and the resulting hundreds of emails a day (yipe!). Lots of folks have chosen Zephyr in the Ebony, Vanilla, and Pewter colorways; I haven't seen anyone else with the Charcoal. Marilyn's didn't have Pewter, just Steel and Charcoal, cool and warm; now I'm having a teensy bit of buyer's remorse. Is Pewter the color of my dreams? I really like the warm grey of the Charcoal, though, so I just need to stand strong. Now the question is: to bead, or not to bead?

I actually have some prepwork to do before I go off to my AP English training next week; choosing a variety of essays from the 19th and 20th centuries and deciding what knitting project(s) to bring to the hotel (a hotel! for 4 days! with only sporadic children! And a laptop!)--these are the kind of decisions I like to make.

In which a mystery finds me

I am insane. Officially.

Haven't finished the swallowtail shawl, but saw Kay's post on the Mystery Stole 3 project and, impulsively, joined. My inbox is now brimming with lacy goodness, two balls of Jaggerspun Zephyr, charcoal colorway, now sit in my yarn bin, and I'm contemplating seed beads. No joke.

I love this community, I love this feeling of being a part of something big and creative and international and overwhelming and challenging, and I can't wait to start the stole.

That said, I am heading out of town for an indeterminate amount of time because my grandpa is sick. I hope to finish the swallowtail soon, but who knows? With two kids and lots of hospital time...they sort of balance each other out in terms of knitting time. Which stinks, because when I am upset and nervous I can really use something to put my hands to use.

Oh, and I forgot to say that a big factor for me in signing up for MS3 was that the designer, Melanie, is allowing an extra week around the Harry Potter book release. We get our clue early, and we get two weeks until the next clue (i.e. portion of the pattern). A woman after my own heart.

In which I mourn my camera

The camera is...most likely...a casualty of my casual relationship with possessions.

Hence the week-long lapse in posting..it's not that fun to read a knitblog without photos, is it?

I did finish the Stefanie Japel shrug, and wore it out and about on Wednesday. I kept wanting people to stop and say, "Did you KNIT that?!" as though it were obvious; had to keep remind myself of my mom's rule--handed down from Aunt Iva, of course--that one strives to make clothing that DOESN'T look homemade.

The shrug turned out really well (imagine photo here!), but I'm not sure that I'm crazy about the Cascade 220 superwash. After washing and blocking, the fabric has a sort of floppy quality that seems rather un-wooly. There's a good review of it here--it's always nice to find a link that expresses my opinion for me. If I were to make this again I think I'd go with plain old Cascade 220.

Next projects? Well, I still need to finish my swallowtail shawl...I have the gorgeous yarn for another sweater out of Fitted Knits...and some sock yarn that's calling my name. I'm ready to tackle Cat Bordhi's Coriolis sock.

In which I (almost) panic

It's been a week and we still can't find the camera. This is pretty typical for me; I lose stuff ALL THE TIME and I'm usually zen about it: if you love it, set it free and it will come back to you. I once found a gold ring in the dryer that I'd lost two years previously.

That said, I don't have any idea where the camera could be hiding.

This really stinks, because not only did I have some good knitting pictures on it that hadn't yet been downloaded, I also had some shots of the TRIPLET fawns that have been visiting us in the mornings, as well as a golden hummingbird who stopped by to take a bath in our sprinkler the other evening.

The two-tone shrug is progressing well; I've reached row 10 of the ribbing (of 24-ish rows). And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my KP options needles with a burning love not matched since John Campbell in ninth grade (and I cruised the hallways for hours just to catch a glimpse of his hot curly head). I love being able to trade and try and switch and swatch and keep them all in their cute little organized binder. Those KnitPicksers have really got it going on; just what I'd expect for a business based in my home state (Go Washington!).

In which I receive my birthday present

My birthday present; my preciousss.

It arrived today--so small, yet containing so much power. With its contents, I will unlock the very fiber of the knitting universe; I will hold the key to spot-on gauge from fingering to bulky. I'll crook my finger; the fabric will respond, under the spell of my nickel-plated instruments.

I have invested in the KnitPicks Options needle set.

(I'd love to post pictures of my precious, but the camera has gone on walkabout. Both M and I remember setting it out to take to a wedding on Saturday, but for the life of us we can't lay hands on the little bugger.)

Mr D helped me unwrap everything and get my notebook of needles set up. I love the ingeniousness of it all. I haven't actually knit any stitches with them yet but hope to do so tonight. I'm about halfway through the ribbing on one sleeve of my shrug (using an Addi Turbo, that $12.95 whore) and I don't want to change horses midstream. I plan on using the Options on the other sleeve's ribbing and really be able to compare the feel of the two types of needles.

I have already used the cables and the cable caps to replace the circulars that I repurposed as stitch holders for the shrug's back and other sleeve--convenient, easy, and really solid.