yarn along

I started a couple of new projects this week because you know one is never enough! ;0)  I joined my first knit a long, and it is a mystery shawl!  I have never participated in a mystery anything, and this pattern gives you two options to pick from for five weeks!  I am so excited to see where this shawl goes!  If you would like to make one too, go sign up and join in!  I have a bit knitted up but no picture yet.  I am not really a purple person, but I really like this combo of purple and dark gray and think it is going to work well.

Of course, in anticipation of my shawl project I made a new little project bag.  I follow Bonnie on Instagram, and she is always posting pictures of really fun patchwork boxy bags.  She put up a tutorial for how she she makes them, and I quickly dove into some precious Heather Ross scraps and made one. I showed my husband and explained I was going to be using it for my new knitting project.  "You made a project for your project?!?"  I think he got it! ;0)

I am also working on a sweater for Felicity.  I made one for Juliana back in September, and I promised to make one for her too.  She picked out the bright pink, and I decided to make a Kina.  We are having the warmest, driest winter ever, so it seemed silly to make her a long sleeve sweater.  

This hasn't been a week for reading unless you are interested in dropping two sizes (like me! haha.), in which case you can check out this weight lifting book.  The only reading I have been doing. ;0)

Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along.

-shawls-

I thought I would share a few things I have completed this year- starting with these shawls.  My crafting time is mostly spent knitting vs. sewing now.  It is easier to pick up here and there.  I knit while we do school and while watching T.V. at night.  I find knitting a good way for me to slow down.  I am always looking to the next project, but I do also enjoy the slower pace it takes to finish.

The first shawl is a pattern called "Windward".  I started this back in May while on a trip, and I was plugging away at it until I came to a point where I kept miscounting and making mistakes.  Ripping and re-ripping.  So frustrated- I put it aside.  Then I picked it back up in November and finished it in no time.  Funny how projects go like that.  Sometimes you need a little breathing space.  This was a fun pattern overall because it keeps changing and gives a lot of variety instead of the same six rows over and over again like the project I am working on now. ;0)  I  used Knit Picks Gloss Fingering in a pretty teal color.  I liked this yarn.  It has a nice sheen to it because of the silk, and I would definitely use it again.

The second shawl is "Ellison Bay".  This was the first shawl that I attempted, and I wanted a beginner pattern.  I loved the mock cable edging on this shawl, and it was a simple and easy construction.  I used Andean Treasure (an alpaca yarn) in a kind of orangey gold color, and I like how soft this shawl turned out.  However, the joins in the yarn kind of made some awkward lumps, so eh...the yarn was kind of a disappointment. 

Yarn Along

I am joining in on Ginny's Yarn Along.  It was actually seeing all of her beautiful knitting that finally clinched it for me that I needed to learn.  I love all the lovely things she makes for her kids especially.  Now if only I didn't live in sunny California where winter is definitely the shortest season.

Right now I am working on a shawl that I hope to gift this Christmas.  Hope is the key word.  This pattern is And So Are You.  It is an easy pattern to memorize, but I have gotten to point in the shawl where every row seems so very, very long.  Why should that matter?  I don't know, but it does.  I guess I really do have the attention span of a gnat sometimes.  I am using Knit Picks Capretta yarn in Platinum.  It is a soft, barely gray color that I really like.  I love all things gray though.  I would probably choose some sort of gray or blue for all my projects if I could.  

Currently, the only thing I am consistently reading is this book for Advent, "Come, Lord Jesus". I found this book via Jessica's blog, and I am so glad that I did.  I was really looking for something inspiring for this Advent season, and this definitely hits the mark.  Her writing is uplifting and yet spurs you on to love a little more and try a little harder.

"Let these precious hours of Advent be given to wonder.  When we feel depressed by our faults, let us wonder that God can forgive us so much: let us be filled with wonder and praise that God goes on believing in us, hoping in us, and trusting that we will somehow yet realize his dream of us."