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.

Red Silk

Thanks to everyone for the commiseration about my tangled mess. Luckily, it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked at first. I'm so glad that I didn't go with my first instinct which was to toss it! I still have to finish winding it - it's a lot of fine laceweight (unfortunately a lot of opportunity for more tangling), but I really want to use it for the Three-cornered shawl in clover pattern from Victorian Lace Today. I actually started a swatch, just to see what it's going to look like.


I've been wanting to use the yarn for a while and I'm determined to actually start something. I know I still have FPS to work on, but it seems to be dragging. The VLT shawl is worked by casting on something like 600 stitches and working the two shorter sides of the triangle and working in to the center, so while it's a PIA to cast on, each row will actually get shorter. I will tell you that I won't be doing the recommended loop cast on because while it's really easy, it's also a pain to try and get into for the first row. Six hundred stitches of that, I don't think so. I'll probably do the knitted cast on.