Monday, January 25, 2010

This Post was Going to be about Charity Work...

...but that topic will have to wait just a little bit longer, because I am still having a love affair with shawls. I have managed to start another 3 shawls, for a total of 5 shawl WIPs. I keep seeing shawl patterns on Ravelry that I can't get out of my head. Once I find an appropriate yarn in my stash, I can't stop myself from starting the project. After the finishing marathon last year, I knew I was in for a serious bout of startitis, so I'm just going with it and enjoying myself!

First up, I started the South Bay shawlette from Lion Brand Yarn. (Sorry, the link requires free registration, if you aren't already registered with LB.)
I'm using 3 skeins of Filatura di Crosa Gioiello, which I originally bought on sale up at Webs for another Doris Chan moebius shawl. After making 2 moebius shawls, however, I am perfectly happy to use this yarn for a completely different pattern.

The I started the Tea Wrap, also from LB.
I am using 1 skein of Brooks Farm Duet, a dk weight yarn, that I bought at Rhinebeck a couple of years ago. Even though the picture doesn't do it justice, the colors of this yarn are just delightful.

And then, I started Saroyan. (Sorry, this pattern is available as a free Ravelry download only.)
I'm using 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Worsted. The yarn is beautiful to touch and to look at. The pattern is one of 3 patterns that were inspired by the TV show Bones. Since that is one of my favorite TV shows, this pattern just seemed like a natural for me to make.

Believe it or not, even though January is ending soon, I still have hopes of finishing at least one of these shawls by the end of the month.

Monday, January 18, 2010

2010-The Year of the Shawl

Oh, goodness. I managed to miss December, the holidays, the end of 2009 and the start of 2010! I don't know, life just feels so much more hectic than it used to. And I spend entirely too much time on Ravelry! I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season and is having a terrific new year.

I finished 2009 with 5 WIPs left on my list. They are all currently on hold, because I may try to finish them during the Winter Olympics. I continued to frog some projects and finish others. If I ever get my act together and get some scarfs blocked, I might just have some FO pictures to share eventually.

In the meantime, I joined the Ravelry group 10 Shawls in 2010, and I am having a great time working on my first 2 shawls for the challenge. The first one is Doris Chan's Guadalupe Shawl.
I am using 3 colors of Caron Simply Soft to get them out of the stash. It's fun, now that I am adding color to the edge. Here's another picture that shows the colors a little bit better.

This past weekend, I also started a knitted shawl.
It's the Weaver's Wool Mini Shawl. I'm using some Sirdar Denim Tweed DK yarn that has been in stash for years. The yarn is an acrylic, cotton and wool blend that is knitting up fairly soft. The tweed makes me think of chocolate chip ice cream, so I am thinking of this as my Chocolate Chip Shawl. I am definitely going to need a longer circular needle soon, as this is growing quite quickly.