I managed to finish up the socks I had left over from March and April.

• Pattern: Rivendell Socks from The Eclectic Sole by Janel Laidman
• Yarn: Knitted Wit Superwash Merino Fingering Weight in kissed
• Needles: 2.75mm
• Started March 1, 2010 -- Finished May 21, 2010

The Rivendell Socks seemed difficult before I actually cast on. There are some tricky wrap stitches on the cuff, but the majority of the sock is simply twisted stitches against a reverse stockinette background. Knitting the heel in this pattern was a good opportunity for practicing purling through the back loop, which is a move that confounded me for the longest time.

• Pattern: Brigit Socks by Monkey Toes (Ravelry Link)
• Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in November Muse
• Needles: 2.75mm for cuffs, 3.0mm for feet.
• Started April 1, 2010 -- Finished June 6, 2010

It seems appropriate that my April socks are for Walker, since April is the month we got married. Too bad I didn’t finish them more quickly. The pattern is pretty easy, just some small cables that are repeated over and over. I quickly memorized the pattern, which made the second sock go pretty quickly. It’s always hard, however, to knit such large socks. It’s just a lot of knitting!

I have been working on the big blanket in Noro Kureyon. I got all the pieces attached and am nearly done with the border. I only have one (long) edge to go, hopefully I’ll be able to finish it today.

• Pattern: Based on Log Cabin Square Pattern
• Yarn: Noro Kureyon in a variety of colors and Louet Riverstone in Caribou for the borders
• Needles: 5 mm
• Started May 8, 2009

It may be telling that the internal borders are wider than the external border. I just couldn’t do all those long rows.

We took a little vacation in June, hanging out in Portland with our friend Sean and then going to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. I stopped by Websters, but I did not get any yarn! It is a fantastic store, but I just didn’t feel like buying anything. There’s a first time for everything. ;-) We brought our dog, so shopping was very limited. I decided to bring along a “vacation project”, which probably kept my fingers from itching for something new.

• Pattern: Montego Bay Scarf by Amy Singer from Interweave Knits Summer 2007
• Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk
• Needles: 5 mm
• Started June 25, 2010

I screwed up the pattern, but I don’t think I’m going to care, so I’m not ripping back. It’s really fast, the open stitches make the scarf grow really fast. When the weather gets hot, this will be a project that won’t make me spontaneously combust. It’s cool and very, very easy. This yarn has been waiting to be turned into something for a long time.

I love having smoothies for breakfast, especially when I'm all sweaty from running. I tried a different combination than we usually use, just frozen strawberries, frozen mango chunks, half a frozen banana, and about 1 cup each vanilla soymilk and 100% pomegranate juice. The vanilla and mango really add to the sweetness, and I swear this tasted just like a strawberry milkshake, only it was healthy. Probably a lot fewer calories, too.

After work on my birthday, Walker came to pick me up at work and we went down to Twisted for some birthday yarn. Walker asked about a colorway I had been craving, "Cloudy with a Chance" from Blue Moon, and they had it in Medium Weight Socks that Rock. I had to have that colorway since it's just like the name of the podcast, plus it's shades of gray, which I love.

I picked out a pattern for a very cute hipster scarf called Ananke (Ravelry link), designed by Shannon, and some Verb for Keeping Warm Annapurna with which to make it. The yarn is a cashmere blend, so it should be a luscious scarf.

Finally, I picked out some Malabrigo that will most likely be knit into a gift. The color is great, deep shades of purple and green over black.

I can buy yarn now if I want, but even when I'm tempted, I stop myself: "When are you going to knit this?" I know it won't be anytime soon, so I can wait to buy yarn until I finish some other projects.

I haven't finished anything lately, which is frustrating. I knit all the time, but these big projects are just really big. I have made a lot of progress on the circular shawl, but the rows are now 574 stitches, so I can get maybe 2 rows done a day. The Kureyon blanket is coming together, but again those 300-stitch rows are a real pain, especially trying to pick up all those stitches evenly.

Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have something done and I can focus on working through the rest of the unfinished knitting.

My starting goals were:

Finish:

• Mossbank Pullover
• Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket
• Tangled Yoke Cardigan
• Shetland Tea Shawl
• One other lace shawl TBD

I did finish the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, and I made some progress on the Mossbank Pullover and the Shetland Tea Shawl. I'm nearly done with the Log Cabin Blanket, but no other shawls have been started. I have restarted knitting socks, which is great since I love wearing socks. I have been trying to knit a pair of socks every month. March didn't work out, those socks are nearly done, but there yet.

Rivendell Socks Twisted Wit yarn in "Kissed" Size 2 and 1.5 needles

I couldn't help but start some new socks for April as well. I had set aside a few yarns for socks for Walker, and this was his lucky month (even he said he doesn't need any more socks).

Brigit Socks Dream in Color Smooshy in "November Muse" Size 2.5 and 2 needles

As I mentioned, I've made good progress on my Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket. I finished attaching all the squares into four strips of five squares each, and I am in the middle of attaching the strips together.

So I've started running. I was in track in high school, and while I wasn't the fastest runner, I enjoyed the practice courses of just running through the woods for longer distances. Here we're right next to Greenway Park and there are trails and streams and lots of trees. I am running about mile, maybe. Being sick and not being able to breathe makes it hard to keep going, but it's motivating to be able to go further and faster each day.

I listened to Haruki Murakami's book, "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" which was inspiring for both getting into running and also thinking about writing, which is also one of those things I used to do all the time. Just like running, the more you write, the easier it is to keep writing. Something to think about...

I was so happy with our vegetable garden last year that I want to improve on it this year. I also want to change the plants in our yard. Walker got a new lawnmower, which should make caring for the lawn less of a strain compared to the old push mower.

Since my last post, I "competed" in the Ravelry Olympics Knit-along known as "Ravelympics". I wanted to finish a sweater I started in 2008. I didn't finish by closing ceremonies, but I finished shortly afterwards. This picture isn't very good. I will put up a new one when I can take one with sunlight.

Tangled Yoke Cardigan by Eunny Jang from Interweave Knits Fall 2007

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, color 38. 9 skeins

Needles: Sizes 5 and 4

Started June 13 2008, Finished March 9 2010

I've also started some new socks for my sock-of-the-month project. I think this is a perfect Spring sock.

Rivendell Socks by Janel Laidman

Yarn : Knitted Wit in Kissed

Needles: Sizes 2 and 1.5

Started March 1 2010

I've actually frogged this one and started over. I cast on with smaller needles, but it didn't fit over my ankle, so I just started over. I don't know that I'll be able to finish these by month end. The pattern isn't too complicated once the wraps are completed, it's actually kind of plain especially through the foot. I should just knit the socks separately through the gusset, then work 2-at-a-time-on-1-circular-needle to ZOOM through the feet.

Oh, my yarn diet goals are going well. I donated a big bag of yarn at the Naked Sheep for the high school knitting program. It felt awesome to get rid of yarn I was never going to use. I haven't bought any yarn since October. Sometimes when I'm having a bad day I am really tempted, but I just remind myself how much knitting I need to finish and I put the yarn down (figuratively and literally). I usually go dive into my stash as soon as possible, just to remind myself of my bounty. I am really lucky to have a stash and the space in my house to store it.

• No yarn purchases. Try to avoid buying needles or books unless truly necessary. Trading stash yarn has been deemed acceptable. (The "trade provision" was added because I was contacted by a Raveler about trading some yarn I had for up in the sale/trade section of my stash. She traded me Tahki Cotton Classic for some Cascade Tweed I'd had for a long time. Overall, my yardage decreased, so it seems like progress . I also finally donated a bag of yarn to the Naked Sheep for the Jefferson High School knitting program. I got rid of 4290 yards and gained only 432 for a net loss of 3858 yards. That's incredible.

• Complete the Horseshoe Pattern #2 section of the Shetland Tea Shawl. (I made some mistake bewteen the first and second pattern, so all I've managed to get done is fixing that transition. I have barely worked on this.)

• Connect 10 squares Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket. (Done! This is very easy, once the stitches are picked up along the edges. I'm still not looking forward to the really long rows, though.)

• Get to the armhole shaping of the Mossbank Pullover. (Done, at last. I've actually been working on this, and I'm excited to start the shaping and steeks. It's going to be a beautiful sweater.)

• Finish January socks, start and make solid progress on February socks. (Done and then some--I finished both pairs in short order. It took about three weeks to finish the January socks and just under two weeks for the February socks!) Pattern: Saucy Socks Yarn: Koigu KPPPM Needles: Size 3 for legs, size 2 for feet. Started 1/23/10, finished 2/5/10 I did some adjustments for these socks. First, I only knit 5 repeats of the pattern on the leg--that was long enough, and I know that one skein of Koigu makes a sufficient sock for me, if I don't get greedy. ;-) I also switched the cable on the second sock, just for an attempt at symmetry. It is great to make these, finally. I've had the yarn for years.

For the next month (February 12- March 13), my main goal besides not buying more yarn is competing in the Ravelympics, completing my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I started this in June 2008, but I haven't knit on it since before we moved, almost a year ago. If I have any extra time after that, I want to finish up my Baktus Scarf which is just past the halfway point, as well as finally work on the Cherry Garcia Cowl I started at the beginning of January and promptly abandoned. I'll get started on my March socks, which I couldn't help but pick. I will be making Rivendell, which is one of the more challenging projects I chose for my personal sock club. The yarn is a soft green, which seems perfect for the softer spring days to come.

[* This is a computer game Walker loves. Progress Quest]

This month's goals (January 13th-February 12)

• No yarn purchases. Try to avoid buying needles or books unless truly necessary. Trading stash yarn has been deemed acceptable.

• Complete the Horseshoe Pattern #2 section of the Shetland Tea Shawl.

• Connect 10 squares Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket.

• Get to the armhole shaping of the Mossbank Pullover.

• Finish January socks, start and make solid progress on February socks

I love connecting the squares of my Log Cabin Blanket. It is very satisfying to see the blanket take shape.

I finished my January Socks, amazing! It's a very easy pattern to memorize, but I still managed to screw up the pattern as I was working the gusset. At least both socks match!

It's hard to work on the other projects, especially during the week when I only have a small amount of at-home knitting time, but I try to make some progress during the weekends.

Ravelympics

I am not a competitive person. In fact, in the face of competition I tend to run & hide. Nor am I usually much of a joiner. I often join knit-a-longs or whatever and either immediately stop knitting the item, or usually stop participating in any discussion. I guess I just don't enjoy the cheerleader bits. It's hard to feel empathy for people I don't really know. I wish them well, of course, but I just can't get into it.

However, I have joined in a few "stash knit-down" groups on Ravelry in hopes of staying inspired to keep up the yarn diet. I have gotten some good ideas on how to get through projects and organize the stash for optimal stash-busting. I just don't participate in the discussion. I'm just knitting, I'm not doing anything new.

The biggest knit-along is the Ravelympics, or Knitting Olympics. It takes place during the Olympics, starting with opening ceremonies and going through to the closing ceremony. Basically, one picks a project (or several) and tries to finish before the end. It's supposed to be a challenge. People pick something they haven't done before that they want to try, such as lace or colorwork or socks. I know a lace shawl would be impossible, but I do have a challenging idea for those 16 days in February. I want to try and finish my Tangled Yoke Cardigan in that time period. The cardigan is knit in one piece from the bottom, which I have done up to point of joining the arms. I need to knit the sleeves and the yoke and buttonbands, seam it up, and add buttons. I have the yarn wound. I have the needles I need. I've had the buttons forever. The "Olympic event" is "WIP (work in progress) dancing", and the rules say the item should be untouched for at least one month before the opening ceremonies. I haven't touched this project for about one year, and I won't have a problem ignoring it for one more month. Even if I don't finish the sweater completely, there should be enough done to push it past the "tipping point"--once I get past a certain point in a project, it will be done in short order. Technically this project qualifies for 3 events: WIP dancing, Sweaterboard Cross, and Cable Cross-Country. I'm sure many projects can be cross-categorized. WIP projects cannot be cross-categorized! Doing so is cause for disqualification! Hopefully I can get well into my February socks before the Olympics so I can get those done in a relatively timely manner.

Looking back at my November Goals:

• No yarn purchases. Try to avoid buying needles or books unless truly necessary. - Accomplished
• Finish Entrelac Scarf - Completed
• Complete the Horseshoe Pattern #2 section of the Shetland Tea Shawl (Into the Shetland Fern pattern #1) - Completed Shetland Fern Pattern
• Knit 5 squares of the Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket for a total of 15 complete squares - Completed 11/17/09, now done with all 20 squares and started joining.
• Get to the armhole shaping of the Mossbank Pullover - Didn't get close in November

December just slipped away, but I didn't buy any new yarn. I got some progress on the projects, but I also started new things and worked on those projects instead of the old ones.

For the next month (January 13 - February 12):

• No yarn purchases. Try to avoid buying needles or books unless truly necessary.
• Complete the Horseshoe Pattern #2 section of the Shetland Tea Shawl.
• Connect 10 squares of the Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket.
• Get to the armhole shaping of the Mossbank Pullover.
• Finish January socks, start and make solid progress on February socks

In the interim, I finally finished the Entrelac Scarf in Noro Kureyon. I started this back in March, and it was often set aside for other projects. It's liberating to use up this yarn after sitting on it for 3 years.

Pattern by Allison LoCicero Rav Link ** pdf Noro Kureyon 157 Size 8 needles (5 mm)

I also whipped up a dreamy cowl from some luscious yarn I got at Sock Summit from Toots LeBlanc The yarn is angora and Romeldale in a DK weight. I used every bit of the yarn for this project. It is rustically spun, yet not very sheddy for angora! Awesome. Now I just need to make more cowls, because I love them.

Pattern by Keri McKiernan Rav link ** Designer's website

Toots LeBlanc 60/40 Romeldale/Angora DK Size 6 needles Button from Twisted!

I bagged up some of my older sock yarns (and a few newer ones) for my "Personal Sock Club". This is an alternative to signing up to a club from a yarn store or yarn dyer and getting shipments throughout the year. This is a way to work through the stash and still get a nice surprise every month. The first socks I'm working on are Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks. These socks are on the cover of the book. It's an easy pattern, and I'm working two socks on one circular to see if that helps me get through a pair in a month or less. The yarn is Mama E's CEYEber Fiber Superwash Sock, which I guess is discontinued. It's okay yarn, I like the color.

Sorry for the awful picture--it's too dark for pictures the hours I'm actually home. :-( At least I'm almost through the leg portions and can start on the heel flaps soon.

Diet Goals

No yarn purchases from 10/14/09 to 5/12/10.

Save $5.00 a week towards future purchase.

Finish:

Finish:

• Mossbank Pullover
• Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket
• Tangled Yoke Cardigan
• Shetland Tea Shawl
• One other lace shawl TBD

November Goals:

• No yarn purchases. Try to avoid buying needles or books unless truly necessary. (Bought one set of needles and some buttons in November, and a crochet book in October. But no yarn!)
• Finish Entrelac Scarf (On the last ball, working on it every evening. I can probably finish this week.)
• Complete the Horseshoe Pattern #2 section of the Shetland Tea Shawl (this is probably the most difficult goal) (Into the Shetland Fern pattern #1)
• Knit 5 squares of the Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket for a total of 15 complete squares (DONE)
• Get to the armhole shaping of the Mossbank Pullover (Have not knit on this at all)

Some Kureyon Log Cabin Squares

I am very interested in knitting accessories right now. Hats, cowls, gloves, and even scarves. This is a good opportunity to get some quick, small projects out of the way and stock up on winter accessories. I have a cowl on the needles, and that is my commute project now that I got the last 2 Kureyon Squares knocked out. For the rest of the year, any new projects I start will be in this category.

Looking ahead to next year, I need to recharge my sock mojo. I have some older sock yarn that I still want to use. I will get some little lunch bags and make up "sock of the month" bags. I can probably bag up enough for a year (or two!) I am also going to get a little looser about finishing a pair before starting another pattern. Sometimes a second sock just drags--it's a slog, so you need some productive and exciting knitting as well. I would be curious to know if I could actually finish a pair of socks in a month. I can get a lot of knitting done on my commute, and socks are really perfect travel projects.

In regards to buying yarn: I have mostly been avoiding the yarn shop, which is hard because my favorite LYS is one block from my work. I used to get stressed at work go down there to get a little something to take the edge off. Sounds bad, huh? Just the other day I was annoyed by my coworkers and I was tempted to indulge in retail therapy. I clicked over to the Loopy Ewe and looked at the pretty pictures. Then I closed the window. It was fine. I'm not driven to buy if I'm not in the middle of a pile of yarn (yarn stores or fiber festivals) and even then I can be thrifty if I've made up my mind to do so. Stubbornness is going to get me through this if anything does.

Diet Goals

No yarn purchases from 10/14/09 to 5/12/10. Save $5.00 a week towards future purchase

Finish:

• Mossbank Pullover
• Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket
• Tangled Yoke Cardigan
• Shetland Tea Shawl
• One other lace shawl TBD

So, I am not buying yarn right now. More power to people who are, this certainly isn’t a contest to see who can be the least materialistic or whatever. I sort of miss it, but a lot of it simply was retail therapy. But I kept finding new things I wanted to make, and all the old things that were waiting their turns kept being shoved down the line.

I have a few larger projects that I’d like to get done, and after that (optimism), I’ll have a bit more freedom to work on what I feel like--from stash yarn. Some people blog about new yarn purchases, but that didn’t seem like an interesting writing topic to me. Which is probably too bad, since if I wrote about every yarn purchase, I’d blog a lot more.

The stash is pretty healthy. That is to say, robust. It is mostly good stuff for which I have plans, but there are some “problem areas”, I guess. I have a lot of sock yarn, and a lot of lace weight yarn. It’s so easy to buy a skein or two, some tempting colorway steals your heart, and you know you could make something lovely with it. Repeat until you run out of storage….

The sock yarn gets some use, but is probably the area I have felt the least restraint when it comes to buying yarn, so what I bought greatly outpaced my sock production. Lord knows there’s no shortage of sock yarn available, and I have a good selection from which to work.

Lace yarn is tricky. It looks so sweet, so innocent. I have some skeins that are over 1500 yards. One false move, bang, your stash has exploded. I only bought 5 skeins of yarn at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, but that was 4360 yards of lace-weight and 606 yards of fingering weight. I don’t regret it, but nearly 5000 yards is a whole lot of knitting. To that end, I plan to also knit 2 shawls during this “diet.” I've even started one, from Gathering of Lace.

Shetland Tea Shawl

Pattern by Dale Long

Yarn: Fine Fibers Silk-Camel Lace

Needles: Size 3 double points and circular

I am really enjoying the circular construction now that I am past the point which was worked on double pointed needles. You start with only 8 or so stitches and do a number of increases to expand the circle. There are 3 stitch patterns within the shawl besides the plain knitting sections, and I'm only on the first one. The rows are still relatively short in this section, so I hope to get through them quickly.

All the diet details after the break...

The Diet details:

No yarn purchases from 10/14/09 to 5/12/10.

Finish:

• Mossbank Pullover
• Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket
• Tangled Yoke Cardigan
• Shetland Tea Shawl
• One other lace shawl TBD

I am saving (in my piggy bank, thank you very much) $5.00 a week for a reward at the end of the allotted period. I am currently planning to make the February Fitted Pullover out of Dream in Color Classy in either Blue Lagoon or Bermuda Teal.

These sorts of projects can't involve too much planning. I have my goals for the month of November:

• No yarn purchases. Try to avoid buying needles or books unless truly necessary
• Finish Entrelac Scarf
• Complete the Horseshoe Pattern section of the Shetland Tea Shawl (this is probably the most difficult goal)
• Knit 5 squares of the Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket for a total of 15 complete squares
• Get to the armhole shaping of the Mossbank Pullover

I am 3 weeks into the diet, and I have stuck to it very well. I went through my stash last night and filled up a grocery bag full of yarn. It's mostly older yarn that I am no longer interested in knitting. When I didn't know better, I thought Lamb's Pride Worsted would be a good yarn for a sweater, and I actually knit a sweater from it. After frogging it, I thought maybe it would be good for felting. I was always lukewarm about felted items--they often look so pathetic, but maybe it would work for me. I tried a pair of felted clogs, but that was also a disaster. Another larger purchase was a few small cones and one large cone of fingering weight cotton yarn. I was going to make a chemise and a camisole out of that, but I really no longer feel any desire to do that. I realized I don't like knitting cotton very much! There's also a variety of bits of leftovers from projects, of course. So I feel the time has come for me to let it all go. Some school or senior center will get a nice bag of yarn soon.

Socks:

Since the Sock Summit, I have finished the French Socks and Mona Socks.
I got to meet designers Nancy Bush and Cookie A. at Sock Summit when they were doing the book signing. I got a ride from my boss (!) down to the Convention Center, and she came to pick me up when I was done. That was great. I just wish I had more time to meet Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (although I saw her everywhere during Sock Summit) and Barbara Walker.

The French Socks are really a great pattern. I love the color, especially the name, “Butter Peeps”—I’m a Peeps freak. I also am enamored of the yarn—count on more Smooshy socks in the future!

*Pattern: Child’s French Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush

*Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy “Butter Peeps purchased at Twisted! in Portland, OR

*Needles: KnitPicks 32” circular needle size 1.5 (2.5 mm), Magic Loop

The Mona Socks are a direct result of joining Ravelry. I fell in love with the pattern and the yarn browsing around there. I had been waiting for a while, however, to actually bring them together. The variation of the color hides the pattern somewhat, but I still like the overall effect.

*Pattern: Mona Socks by Cookie A.

*Yarn: Ruby Sapphire Yarns Sapphire Sock “Yahto”

*Needles: KnitPicks 32” circular needle size 1.5 (2.5 mm), Magic Loop

I also made a mini sock for a Moo card holder, which was a hit. A lot of people I met also had cards, so I tried not to be too shy about offering my card.

But Wait! there's lots more after the break... _________________________

Blanket #2

I talked about my insane sock yarn blanket, but I also have a Log Cabin Style blanket going on in Noro Kueyon. This is also a modular project—at least at this stage. One skein of Kureyon makes a square about 10”. When I have all 20 squares knit, I’ll pick up strips between squares in a plain brown yarn to make a grid around the squares and for the border. It’s a very mindless project, which is good, and it’s going to come together much faster than the tiny squares.

*Pattern: Log Cabin Square by Sarah Bradberry

*Yarn: Noro Kueyon in a variety of colors. Louet Riverstone in Caribou for the borders

*Needles: Size 8 (5mm) needles.

Other Projects

I feel bad that these projects haven’t been mentioned yet. These are the oldest of all the projects.

First, I started a Fair Isle sweater for Walker. It’s knit in the round, so the entire body is on the needles right now. I’m about halfway through the second repeat, after which I can start the shaping for the armholes and the steeks. I will have to cut through my knitting. It makes me nervous already! I got interested in the technique, and have enjoyed the challenge. I put it down in favor of quicker projects, and during the warm weather, but now it’s getting cooler and easier to have a big sweater in one’s lap!

*Pattern: Mossbank Pullover by Wilma Malcombson from Jamieson’s Shetland Knitting Book 3

*Yarn: Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift in Rosewood, Shetland Black, Rosemary, Old Gold, Rust and Burnt Umber

*Needles: Size 2(2.75 mm) and Size 3(3.25 mm) circular needles

Once in awhile I get the lace bug. It bites me HARD. My stash of lace yarn speaks to the seduction of those dreamy, gossamer shawls. I had wanted to make the Swallowtail Shawl ever since I saw the pattern. The pattern features nupps, which are sort of bobbles, little raised bumps, but I knew that the mohair yarn I was using would make that technique extra tricky, so I added beads instead.

I did have an issue with this pattern—it’s not hard, but knitting with sticky mohair is a special challenge. When I screwed up, I just didn’t have the energy to fix it right away. Even when I had ripped back and installed lifelines, I wasn’t motivated to get it done until more recently.

This is during the blocking of the shawl

*Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark from Interweave Knits Fall 2006

*Yarn: Rowan Kid Silk Haze in “Meadow”

*Beads: 6/0 greenish pearly beads from Dava Beads

*Needle: Addi Turbo Lace Size 5 (3.75 mm) circular needles

Finally, I am making a scarf. I love having lots of scarves to wear. However, I do not love knitting scarves. It’s far too easy to get bored and move on to the "new hotness". I am trying to make this my TV knitting. I’m halfway done, at least. This picture is from when I was merely 1/4 done, but it looks the same, just longer.

*Pattern: Entrelac Scarf (pdf link)

*Yarn: Noro Kueyon in 157

*Needle:Size 8 (5mm) 24” circular needles

This was a much needed palate cleanser. Now I can talk about finishing these projects and even start some new ones!

Isabel is our miniature poodle. She is an older dog, probably about 9 years old. She lived with her previous owner all her life, but around the end of April, she was brought to the Humane Society. We feel really lucky to have found her.

She loves playing fetch and being with us, taking walks in the nearby park or just hanging out. She is very affectionate, gives us lots of kisses and is excited when we get home from work. She has adjusted to her new home and we are glad to have her.

More pictures: