Bet ya thought I skipped Wednesday, didn't ya?

It's been a busy day, a busy week, really.  I haven't had a lot of knitting time, so I was knitting furiously away this morning so I could say I've made *some* progress on all of my projects this week, though not enough on any of them to photograph.

I hammered out another seven rows on Pine and Ivy this morning which took most of the morning since each row takes around 15 minutes to knit at this point.  It's going well...just slow...

Earlier this week, I got an email from one of the big yarn shops (or maybe it was on Facebook, I can't remember) announcing a new Cascade 220 sport yarn.  Very exciting!  I'm a little over 40 rows into the Cradle Me blanket and do not like the stitch definition with the yarn I'm using.  I do believe this new yarn is calling my name!

The really great and exciting news is, even though I still have a lot to go on that Evenstar Shawl edging, I was able to transfer all the remaining stitches down to a 24" circ yesterday.  When you consider the fact that I started the edging on a 60" circ, this is truly cause for celebration.  Join me in a little Woo-Hoo.  Woo-Hoo.  :-)

I apologize for missing FO Friday, since I DO have a couple to share (and may have a couple more by this Friday).  My photographer got home from work late, then he had to take my artistic director for his walk, then both of them needed to be fed...and by then we were out of daylight.  And, as I'll share tomorrow, the weekend was crazy busy - FUN busy.

But today, I have a NEW WIP to share! 

Pattern:  Videvik Shawl
Yarn:  Lost City Knits Oak Barn Merino
Colorway:  African Violets
Purchased at:  Lost City Knits
Needles:  #4
Date Started:  8/26/10
Progress:  5%
Last week, I finished a BIG project, so I rewarded myself by casting on this one.  I'm not going to make this a habit since my goal is to get down from the 12 projects I have going right now to a manageable three or four.  But I figured I'd been a good girl, I had the yarn and the pattern AND the needles all ready to go so...

This shawl is another bottom-up, where you cast on bazillions of stitches and slowly decrease till you're done, you give up and toss the whole mess in a corner, or you die, whichever comes first.  I really don't enjoy this kind of shawl very much (can you tell?) because there's usually a fairly lengthy stretch of knitting where you really can't tell if you're doing it right or what the pattern looks like because all those stitches are just one big ruffled up mess on the needle.  I had to knit about 30 rows of Pine and Ivy before it started looking like anything, and let me tell you, that is frustrating.  This shawl?  Um, I've knit nine rows - no problem seeing this pattern!  This pattern may make me change my mind about bottom-up shawls...hope springs eternal!

This pattern has nupps.  Wish me luck!

The yarn...oh, the yarn is to die for!  It's so soft and squishy, yet has great stitch definition.  This is the closest to a solid color yarn that I've used in a while, but it's definitely not boring, and I love the little jolt of white every now and then.  Denise says she was inspired by her mother's African violets, and this yarn definitely is true to that inspiration.  I do hope my shawl does justice to this fabulous yarn.

Now, knitters, I must dash off and try to finish one or two more projects before Friday!  Knit on!  Knit on!