Purple Diamond Shawl is Finished!

And I am so very happy with it!

The close-up of the edging:

The Specs:
Pattern: Stripes and Torchon Lace from Victorian Lace Today
Needles: Size 7
Yarn: Valley Alpaca Silk from Webs in Amethyst (I LOVE this yarn and have used it for several projects now. I love the colors and I love how it feels, so very soft. And I really love the price, very good. I highly recommend it.)
Comments: The edging was a giant, hairy pain in the butt and took forever, but it really does add a lot to the shawl and I'm glad I went to all the trouble.

I've now started the Cap Shawl in red. I'll have pictures of that later in the week!

Still Not Finished

I'm SOOOO close to finishing:

Hopefully, I'll finish it today and be able to block it this weekend and have an actual finished project. Maybe I'll be able to get back to my regular blogging.

Anyway, thank you all for the book recommendations. I've written them down and as soon as I finish Great Expectations, I'll get something else to read.

WIP Wednesday

I'm not much further along on the edging than last week. I have two whole patterns done on it.

Let's see, only about 30 more, give or take a few. I still can't get the color right for this stole. I've played with the camera settings and I've played with the image once it's on the computer, and I just can't get it right!

I was almost very bad this week. It involves some red laceweight and the book Victorian Lace Today. Okay, I was actually very bad (don't break out in hives, Debi; I know I already have way too many projects!) and did attempt to start the Cap Shawl, but for some reason, it wasn't working out after several starts. Apparently, the red laceweight is telling me to finish the Diamond Stole and possibly even the Trinity Shawl first. (Have you noticed that both Trinity and the Cap Shawl also have knitted-on edging?! Ugh!)

WIP Wednesday

I have exactly this much of the edging done:

It's going to take forever, isn't it?

As for the color, well, it's cloudy, so I'm having a worse time than usual getting the color. It really is a vibrant purple with lots more red in it than this picture. Sort of like the purple in the percentage bars in the sidebar. If I ever finish, I'll just keep taking pictures until I can get the color better. Who knew that particular shade of purple could be so difficult?!

Stole and sock progress

First of all, I finished Book 7 and I refuse to give away anything because that's why I read it so very fast, so I wouldn't find out what happened from anyone else. So I will request that no one give away anything in the comments either, but if you want to discuss feel free to email me at either the addy in the sidebar or my verizon email if you have it. I will say only that several of my guesses about what was going to happen were right, but I've never made the guesses on the blog.

As for pictures, progress of the stole:

I can't seem to get a decent picture of the stole. It's just two diamond patterns away from the edging and I hope to get to that this week. Meanwhile, sock progress has slowed. I only have the cuff and beginnings of a heel for one sock since the last pair:

The yarn is Sockotta. Maybe now that I'm back and I've finished Harry Potter, I'll get back to my regular knitting. Oh, yeah, there is Oblivion which I've finally got my hands on...

WIP Wednesday

I know I've been MIA a bit lately. I haven't been blogging quite as regularly and I've haven't been commenting as much as usual on everyone's blogs. I've still been a bit under the weather. I'm feeling a bit better today though so I hope I'm on the tail end of all of this. Anyway, I also haven't been knitting quite as much as I usually do. Between not feeling so well and a certain video game that I've gotten sucked into, it makes for not so much knitting. I have read a couple of good books lately though and I'll tell you about those after I show what is in progress. (And I apologize for the crappy photography. There's really no excuse other than laziness.)

First up is Sahara:

I've made it to where the armholes are joined and the piece is worked back and forth for another couple of inches, then the neck is joined and it's worked in the round. The pattern is really easy to follow and it really is pretty quick. I just haven't been working on it a whole lot.

Next is the diamond stole. I had to use the flash to get the pattern to show up, but in doing so, I washed out some of the color. It really is a nice, royal purple.

I have made a little progress with this because it really is a fairly simple pattern and easy to memorize. It's easy to work on when not thinking too much.

And last, but certainly not least is the trinity shawl that I've just cast on for. I'm only about three rows in. It will get smaller each row, then a knitted-on border (which I'm sure you'll hear me complain about because those things take forever!)


Anyway, maybe I'll save the books for Friday instead since I'm not making much progress on anything else, I'll at least have something to share. Maybe I'll even post a couple of reviews on some new knitting books I have. I seem to have acquired several in the last couple of weeks.

Singularly Focused No More

I think Debi put my recent one-project devotion best - I am "singularly focused". And I do think that is a more accurate description. I occasionally do get very focused on one of my many WIPs and decide it needs to be finished. And occasionally, I decide that working on just one thing at a time really isn't me at all and I pick up something else.

I worked on the front of Bonsai and am about halfway done and I picked the purple stole back up and worked a couple of patterns on that. (It's overcast today and I couldn't get a better picture, but you can click on the Purple Diamond Stole label at the end of the post and scroll down for a better one.) I took both to my weekly Sit 'N' Knit and switched between the two during the evening. Now, that's more like me, isn't it?

I also ordered more yarn for a couple (okay, maybe more than a couple) more projects. I ordered a couple of patterns from Stitch Diva - Sahara and Simple Knitted Bodice.

A lot of you seemed to be impressed that I'm reading Harrius Potter (and that I want to read the Greek version), but I want to emphasize that I'm not exactly cruising through it. I am going very slowly and I have the English version right there for occasional help. I've read the books in English so many times and know the story so well that it really is helping my Latin reading a lot more than something like Cicero. I do hope to read more original Latin authors someday, but for now, I'm enjoying Harry Potter.

WIP Wednesday

It's been a while since I've actually had a WIP Wednesday, but I finally have something to show. As is probably a bit obvious, I've been very uninspired lately when it comes to my knitting. There are a few things that have been lingering OTN because they just haven't spoken to me. I picked up my Victorian Lace Today book the other day and thought I'd finally found something using the red silk, but I wasn't happy with the red silk. So I kept looking and came across something else. It's funny because I ignored this stole earlier in favor of the Hexagon Shawl and The Cap Shawl and several other more elaborate ones. But this one spoke to me the other night because of its simplicity. And you know what, I have a bit more of that wonderful alpaca silk from Webs (I LOVE that stuff!) in a wonderfully rich purple. Simple stripes of diamonds with a border.

Just a simple stole with a fairly easily memorized pattern on size 7s. I'm sure I'll complain when it comes time for the border, but right now, this is what I need.