Let me at ‘em Mom. I can be trail hoss! Let me out!

I sent Pepsi off to his new home last night. He’s going to live with L & J where he will get to go out on the trail and do lots of fun things. I’m excited for him since he’ll get to do what he enjoys, but I’m going to miss his cute little face at the barn.

ETA: The noise that sounds like a shot in the background was *not* something we were doing to make him run around. He was running because I let Blondie into the barn yard and he thought she was getting better grass or more attention than he was.

The long weekend has thrown off my ‘feel’ for what day it is this week. I’ll sure be glad come Friday though! I’ve had a lot on my mind so simple knitting is about all I’m managing to get done. The good thing is that things are progressing – it’s nothing bad – just being busy at work, then new challenges at work, and some changes to the horsey part of my life.

1. Sunrise Circle - Same ol’ thing.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap - No progress last week.

3. Wool Peddler’s Shawl – Simple knitting is about my speed this week. I cast on for the shawl immediately after finishing the Mad Color Weave Socks. 

Next week I’ll be traveling. I never get much knitting time when I travel for work and haven’t decided yet if I’ll take the shawl with me or something smaller like a sock.

The Mad Color Weave Socks are done. I just love how they turned out. All the colors in this yarn tend to get muddied when knit up and this is one of the few patterns I’ve seen that works against that – the ‘weave’ stitches stand out above the background color and disrupt the muddied colors.

I have several other colorways of Lorna’s Laces that I think would work well with this pattern too. Besides the ‘weave’ stitches this pattern also has 2 small cables down the sides that add stretch to get a good fit. I find it creates a nice design element too in that the woven stitches are a panel of sorts down the front and back, separated by the cables.

Can I rave about this pattern anymore? I *really* like it for handpainted yarns like Lorna’s Laces. It’s available here.

Retail therapy, early birthday present – whatever you want to call it, I ordered some yarn last week. Lately I’ve been wanting to try some lace in the form of a shawl or stole. I’ve also been wanting to order from Blackberry Ridge for a long time after seeing their yarn knit up into the Ene’s Scarf pattern.

This is Dark Lilac in the Lace Silk Blend. It is for Ene’s Scarf.

This is Sock Yarn in Natural for a Wool Peddler’s Shawl.

 We’re already on the theme of purply colors and creamy colors, how about some more?

This is the Blackberry Mittens Kit.  

Since I was placing the order anyway, it was also a good time to get color cards. One of things that always held me back in the past was not knowing the true color of the yarn. I won’t have that excuse anymore.

I’m thrilled with the yarn so far and am anxious to start knitting it up.

Over the weekend we took a quick trip to Billings to visit Richard’s brother, niece, and nephew. Neither of us had been to their home in Roundup and I hadn’t ever been further East in Montana than where you turn off I-90 to go to Helena.

As you can see it was quite the horsey weekend. From the top, buckskin Quarter Horse stallion, statue at Metra Park in Billings, big name natural horsemanship trainer* at Metra Park, Kristen with her a one week old foal, Montana scenery, rock formations, and a mine in Butte.

On the way back from Billings we briefly went into Bozeman and Butte to get an idea of what was there. I think a future weekend visit is in order to both towns.

*It was a coincidence that this event was the same weekend we went to Billings. Our relatives were going to the event so we went along for the first day. Regardless of whether you love, like, or hate a particular trainer there is always something you can learn by watching how that person interacts with horses. Whatever you do with your horses remember to BE SAFE.

How did that happen? This should be my last crazy busy week at work, then things should be back to normal. Over the weekend we had a quick getaway trip to Billings. It was a fun weekend and did provide some on-the-road knitting time. I hadn’t been that far East in Montana before so I did watch the scenery go by as well.

1. Sunrise Circle - Same ol’ thing.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap - No progress last week.

3. Mad Color Weave Socks – Coming along well due to knitting on the road over the weekend. Both socks are past the heel.

Coming up I have some photos from our trip to Billings and a recent yarn splurge.

I simply ran out of time to post an update yesterday. Over the last week I’ve had very little knitting time. *sigh* Hopefully my schedule will be back to normal next week.

1. Sunrise Circle - Same ol’ thing. I’m really keeping it on my list so I continue to feel guilty about not finishing it yet.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap - No progress last week. None of my available time was focused enough to work on this.

3. Mad Color Weave Socks – Coming along well. The second sock is further along now, almost to the beginning of the heel flap.

Here’s hoping next week isn’t so busy!

Considering how many hours I’m working I think my progress last week wasn’t half bad. 

1. Sunrise Circle - Same goal: try it on, pin it to fit, and decide what steps to take to make it fit the way I want.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap - The right front is knit up to the armpit. I stopped at that point to verify that the sleeves as written would be long enough for the tall baby this is for. I got my number yesterday so it’s time to get started again. Goal: make progress.

3. Mad Color Weave Socks – Choosing a new sock project can be overwhelming. I have lots of sock yarn in my stash and many patterns to choose from. This time I consulted my patterns first. When nothing jumped out at me immediately I browsed around in my yarn. A few years back Knit Happens had a huge sale in their online store and I purchased loads of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock multicolor (it was 50% off who can resist that?). This seemed like a good choice so I grabbed some in Watercolor that had already been wound up.

I wish it wasn’t striping so much, but that’s inevitable with my tight gauge. I suppose I should try knitting from two skeins at once, but since striping doesn’t bother me very much it’s not a big deal. I am loving this pattern though!