I've been busy!

I finished the second braided scarf in 10 days. That's less than half the time it took me to knit the first one. I don't think I'll be making that one again. The finished product looks ok, but I'm not a big fan of the ends, and it was just a big pain in the neck to knit. I hope the teachers like them.




Then I cast on for my Mom's Shetland shawl in the Tilli Tomas silk. This took only eight days to finish. I don't know how--it was a very fast knit. The only modification I made was adding an extra repeat on the main body, and I'm glad I did, because it didn't block as large as I thought it would. I guess I should have realized that silk won't stretch as much as wool when wet. This yarn was nice to work with. Blocking, however revealed that this yarn bleeds. A lot. When I lifted it out of the sink after its soak, it look like the sink was filled with blood. It was that bad. I rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed. It was still bleeding a bit when I called it quits. I'll have to tell Mom not to where it over white, or when it rains!




Last night I cast on for my first fair isle project. It's one of Bea Ellis' hat kits. I discovered these on someone else's blog--can't remember who, and they looked really neat. So I ordered one for my brother, and one for the sister-in-law. I was kinda scared when I started the double stranded knitting. I've read how hard it is. But I found that as long as you keep the two strands separate and untangled, it's not bad at all. The stitches on the first few rows are a bit wonky, but I think I did just fine on my first attempt. I'll definitely be ordering more from Bea Ellis--she is so friendly, and quick to ship.

My next post will include a surprise! I was EXTREMELY lucky to snatch something off an Etsy shop earlier this week. This stuff is in hot demand, and I can't believe I was so lucky! More later...