A Whole Lot of Knittin' Goin' On

I kind of dropped the ball on the whole blogging thing this week. Sorry about that. Not only have I not been blogging, I have not been catching up on your blogs either..heck, I have not even responded to e-mails from friends.
I guess you could say I have been laying low.
I am doing great. I appreciate all of your supportive comments on my last post. I was then, and am now totally fine...it is just that sometimes in life we have to deal with some real "winners". I was just standing up for myself and letting someone know that I was not going to be intimidated by them..and it is all good. =)
As a friend of mine would say, "Save the drama for the mama"...and that is exactly what I did. (Thanks for you advice and support mom, now and always. =) )

Just because I have not been blogging doesn't mean I have not been knitting though. I am starting to realize I may have bit off a little more then I can chew for my knitting goals this month...we shall see. I still remain hopeful, but if things don't work out all according to plan I don't think the knitting police are going to come after me!

So here is a little bit of what I have been up to:

First, the Mitered Square Shawl that will never end. (At least it feels that way!)

I have nine more squares to do. Then I need to weave in ends, and do a crochet border. I am really shooting to have this done by Thursday. Yarn Yoga is this Friday and come hell or high water I want to have this thing done and ready to hand off to the store that night. I will breath much easier when this project is out of my life!

I did manage to get the first baby hat made..isn't it cute?

I stuffed it with plastic bags for photo purposes, that is why it looks a little weird.

I got the yarn and pattern in a little kit I bought of EBay ages ago. It is Alpaca dyed by Cherry Tree Hill. It was so lovely to work with!

Next, and this is a horrible picture I am sorry..is the 2nd Dulaan project. The yarn is actually much lighter then this. This is going to be an Avalanche Vest..the progress you see here is about a 1/2 hours worth of work..this thing is going to work up fast!

And this is my UFO resurrection/ May Sweater of the Month project.

It is the Fairly Easy Fair Isle Cardigan from Stitch-n-Bitch nation. I started this during the horrible power outages last winter because it was the only thing I had to that was light enough and big enough (gauge-wise) to knit by firelight. Once the lights came back on it got tossed aside for other projects..but I really want to finish it. I love the colors (perfect for Project Spectrum), and I am really excited to see how they are all going to work together.

As far as the other projects?

I have finished tier 2 of the Forest Path Stole.

I have done 30 rows on the So Called Scarf, my UFO resurrection project for April.

I have Faina back on the needles..barely.

The Mystery Shawl needs to be tinked (again). I made a mistake somewhere a few rows back..and the rows for the border are loooooooooong. I am trying very hard to avoid this project..

The round 6 Sock Madness socks have not seen any love..and I have yet to look at the pattern for Round 7. I do want to finish/make these so I hope to find time for them soon.

All in all I think I am making good head way. And once I get that darned store sample shawl done I will have A LOT more time to dedicate to my projects.

OK, back to work for me. That shawl is not going to knit itself!

Happy Mothers Day everyone! See you next week!

I Love A Good Mystery!

A long while back I discovered Goddess Knits and her amazing shawl pattens. At the time I found her I was interested in her Shawl A Month Club.
For once I resisted temptation and did not join.(Although I strongly hinted to others how great a gift it would be..no one got the message.)
Now I am really bummed because she stopped doing it.
However, I noticed something called a Mystery Along on her site..and discovered that periodically she does a Mystery Sock and A Mystery Shawl KAL.
The deal is:
You pay $3.50 per KAL and join the Yahoo Group.
Once a week, for 5 weeks, you receive a new "clue", in the Shawl case it is a new chart and instructions. And if you keep up with the knitting.. in 5 weeks you have a new shawl (or sock).
I was a little late to the party on the last one..so my first shawl is not done yet. However, I have seen many finished and the results are amazing!
Each shawl is different. The last one was a circle (this one), and the current one is a Shetland Style triangle. (You knit the triangle from the bottom center up, and then do a knitted on border..Cool!)
I am learning a lot of new techniques and having a blast! I love that I have no idea what the outcome is going to be, and that you can only do so much a week. (And as we all know that is a good thing for me!)
This time around I got in at the very beginning of the KAL, and I plan to keep up with the clues so that this time it truly is a mystery.


So I picked out my yarn:

Knit Picks Gossamer in Rose Garden (wild isn't it?)

The first clue was released last Saturday..and I promptly got to work:

Unstretched Stretched

I'm thinking it looks rather Tiger'ish. Not to sure how crazy I am about my yarn choice..but since this is a Mystery I am going with it. Don't get me wrong, I love the colors, just not too sure about the whole striping thing, I am hoping it will get better as the shawl gets bigger.

We get the next clue tomorrow. I can't wait to see it!