It’s Wednesday again and I have a finished shawl to show you. I only blocked it lightly so it’s not a huge change from the pre-blocked photo. One thing that surprised me is the ‘natural’ color of the yarn was different between the two skeins. Of course it makes sense, sheep are not all exactly the same color. I didn’t notice this while I was knitting so I hope it won’t be noticeable when worn.

1. Sunrise Circle – Maybe after I finish Dragon Scale I’ll get this one figured out.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap – My goal this week is to make progress on this.

3. Wool Peddler’s Shawl – finished. Check it out!

4. Mad Color Weave Socks 2 – since finishing the shawl I chose the path of least resistance and picked these up. I just started the heel flap on the first sock.

The Wool Peddler’s Shawl is bound off. It took two bind offs to get this one finished. As I worked on my last lace repeat my remaining yarn was looking rather slim. I measured the last few rows and guessed the bind off would take at least 2x a normal row. When I started binding it off I had marked the halfway point of my remaining yarn. At the halfway point in the shawl I knew I wouldn’t make it, but it was close so I pressed on and knit a little bit tighter. I think I had 20 stitches left when I ran out. I looked at my cast on yarn, I looked at my yarn samples….there just wasn’t enough. I had to undo it, take out one garter stitch row and begin binding off again.

As it is, I have SIX YARDS left of the original 900. I never dreamed I’d use all of this up, but evidently the addition of extra garter stitch rows and one more lace repeat did me in. I like how it looks unblocked, but I still want to even it out and open up the lace a bit more. It’s in blocking now:

I also learned a new bind off method. After googling “knit stretchy bind off” and finding one that was recommended 3x I went with it. Grumperina describes it here. It worked really well and was easy to do. I’ll definitely use this technique again.

Now that this one’s off the needles I’m already thinking about casting on for Ene’s Scarf. I suspect the cast on will be unpleasant, but that I will enjoy working a shawl from the bottom up.

Even though I was on vacation last week I don’t feel like I did any extra knitting. Or maybe it’s that knitting on a larger project doesn’t result in a significant change like knitting on a sock does. I’m also finding that I enjoy focusing on a single project through completion. By doing this I think it’s easier to carry through with the passion that inspired me to cast on to begin with. There’s still a place for multiple projects though – a portable project is key for me and sometimes a simple project is too.

1. Sunrise Circle – thinking about tackling it.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap – thinking about getting back to it.

3. Wool Peddler’s Shawl – almost finished. According to the pattern I have one lace repeat remaining, but I may add one more pattern repeat. (I’m actually further along then this photo.)

4. Mad Color Weave Socks 2 – no change. This is my current portable project.

Even though I have several other projects on this list that should be finished after the shawl I’m contemplating other things. Sometimes I think about what project would make the biggest/quickest dent in my stash. As much as I love socks, at a rate of one pair every 3-4 weeks that is really slow stash usage (which is both good and bad depending on how you want to look at it)!

Now that we only have one horse, Richard has been referring to her as “the horse.” It still sounds strange to me. To the best of my knowledge Blondie is 17 years old now. I’ve had her since she was 10. On quite a few occasions I’ve felt she was in pain due to the way she moves under saddle, the way she throws her head up and drops her back, or the ear pinning behavior when brushed. It’s come and gone for quite a few years during which my vets really didn’t give me any advice as to what could be causing it or how to fix it.

That’s all changed. Blondie is receiving care from an incredible woman who does chiropractic, cranio sacral, and acupuncture. She’s had three appointments so far and while she’s making tremendous progress, there is still more to do. Dr. Linda said to me yesterday, “on a scale of 1 to 10 she’s a 10″ with regard to how messed up her body was when we began treatment.

We should probably start calling her “the spoiled horse.”

It’s the 12th of June and we’ve had snow falling both yesterday and the day before. Snow is still visible on the hills around town, but the end is in sight with a forecast for 70 degrees on Friday and mid-70′s over the weekend.

There wasn’t much knitting last week, but my WIP list has changed some.

1. Sunrise Circle – I looked at it this week, does that count for anything?

2. Dragon Scale Wrap – No progress last week.

3. Wool Peddler’s Shawl – I’m just starting the lace rows.

4. Mad Color Weave Socks 2 – My new portable project. The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Icehouse.

I’m on vacation this week and I’m still not getting that much knitting done. I’m not even sure what I’ve been doing – it’s quite a variety of little things that end up gobbling up an entire day.

I suppose “no progress” isn’t completely accurate because I did work on the Wool Peddler’s Shawl a bit each day from Thursday to Sunday. However, Monday to Sunday is a travel week for me and I brought NO KNITTING. Can you believe it? I am so busy when I travel that I have no time to knit.

1. Sunrise Circle – Same ol’ thing.

2. Dragon Scale Wrap – No progress last week.

3. Wool Peddler’s Shawl – It’s now big enough to cover the book. I have about 10 rows left before I’m supposed to start the lace rows. No photo because the shawl is in Montana and I am not.

Coming soon I’ll be back to knitting and I’ll also be talking about my horse training/riding goals for upcoming months.