I've Finished Things!

Whew, last week was LOUSY.  I spent all of it being ill, and could rarely stay awake long enough to make any progress on knitting.  When I could stay awake, everything was hard, and I often found myself zoning out in front of What Not To Wear.

It is even more amazing then, that I have completed THIS:

I know it's not the best picture.  I just pinned it out and was too excited, I had to share.  And it has BEADS!

Isn't that pretty?  It's all sparkly and stuff!  This is Juneberry by Jared Flood, and is a generally clever pattern.  It took some concentration, but I'm pleased with the final result (that the cat is now rolling on...c'mon, I don't roll on her stuff).  Anyway, now that I've got that off the needles, I can focus on socks!  I just cast some new ones on last night when I wasn't having any fun with this Juneberry!  XD

This little guy is complete, too.  He is ridiculously cute.  I can also turn his mouth upside down for hilariously distraught face.  D:

Another One Off the Needles!

Last month I posted a project that I was working my way through, and that I'm returning to today to show you that it's FINISHED!

This is of course the Cedar Leaf Shawlette by Alana Dakos, who I got to meet at Stitches and who is absolutely LOVELY!  A friend and I talked about it afterwards - that she is an incredible designer and yet so humble and modest about her work, almost like she doesn't quite realize yet how incredibly talented she is!  Anyway, she is wonderfully sweet and obviously works very hard, so if you don't know who she is yet, take a look at her pattern store and see if you don't need a new pattern or 3.  :D

Back to business: blocking this thing was a bit tricky, as I've never blocked leaves on the angle before.  After a bit of a kerfuffle, I pinned out all the tips, and then stuck another pin near the base of each leaf, not stretching it too far so as to turn it in to a diamond shape, but just enough for it to lay flat and not roll under on itself.  It took a good amount of time, but even the cat knows that when I'm laying on the floor swearing at my knitting, that it's best to avoid me for a while.  With 2 pins in every leaf and nearly 40 leaves, I used nearly every pin I have in my arsenal.

It looks like I'm trying to run power lines!  Due to the lighter weight, the shawl was dry before I went to bed that night, and after the slightly easier task of unpinning, I have a pretty new shawlette/scarf for Spring!

Day o' Love

So what's everyone doing for Valentine's day?

Tonight will be low key at our house, but that's because we did the big celebration yesterday, and my husband made reservations to The Chart House on Cannery Row, letting us enjoy a classy dinner overlooking the water.  I had the seared mahi and the lobster bisque, commandeered some of his prime rib, and we still managed to fit an apple and cherry crisp for dessert!  It was incredibly nice getting dolled up for a nice evening out, and husband gets 2-thumbs-up, would-date-again for planning Valentine's Day a week in advance.  He's the best!
So tonight it's my turn.  I've got the stuff for rib eye in a cream sauce over mashed potatoes, and I tried to get good photos of my ingredients only to realize that I'm slightly bonkers for trying to get the perfect shot of raw meat.  So we'll try again with the pictures after it's cooked.  And after wine!  Prepare for madness.

In the mean time, let me show you photos of my most recent WIP!  This is a Cedar Leaf Shawlette in North Loop Yarn sock weight.  The color reminds me of a bright green Granny Smith apple.

It's really cool, you knit shorter and shorter rows to create a sort of crescent moon shape, and after that's all said and done, you add little lace leaves to the edge.  I'm especially excited because I've had this skein in my stash for almost as long as I've had any skein, and I'm finally using it!  And it'll be perfect to brighten up my wardrobe for Spring.  :)