My Secret Plan for Finishing the Shawl

Today I am home sick with some sort of stomach bug, which, as the Hurricane Knitters will tell you, was bothering me last night. This morning when I woke up still feeling icky, I decided that I'd rather stay home than spend the whole day at work running back and forth to the bathroom (which is no easy feat these days, as the restrooms on our floor are closed for remodeling so we're forced to go to a different floor). I haven't taken a sick day since last fall, so I think they can survive a day without me.

Fortunately I'm well enough to knit (frankly I have to be really sick to not be able to knit!), so I'll make use of the time to work on the wedding shawl. At present I'm two rows into the 15th repeat, with roughly 32 grams of yarn left:

I'm beginning to worry that my yarn supply won't hold out for the 18 repeats I was shooting for, especially considering the edging is another 12 rows past the main chart repeats, so I may be ending this earlier than I thought.

Last night's meeting of the Hurricane Knitters, in spite of my stomach issues, was a lot of fun. We had another good crowd with most of the regulars. Julia was back, as was Lynn, and we were joined by a newcomer, Joyce. Marybeth finished her very first project, an adorable garter stitch hat -- she even mastered seaming garter stitch to sew it up!

Unbeknownst to me, Jen and Jenn had done a little scheming beforehand. They had figured that since this would be my last knit night as a single woman, they'd have a little knitty bachelorette party for me. Using leftover tulle from her own veil, and a tiara-like comb she found in the children's dress-up section of a store, Jen made me this little number and insisted I wear it all evening:

It looks quite fetching on the lava lamp, no? It's actually quite cute; I couldn't believe Jen made it herself! She insisted I bring it home with me, just in case I have a veil emergency on the day of the wedding.

Before I pull out the shawl and get down to business, I do want to give you a peek at a WIP I started last weekend but haven't mentioned. I'm afraid it's rather boring.

Can you guess who this sock is for? This is my usual pattern (Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks) in very boring black Fortissima Socka. I'm not enjoying the yarn; it's very scratchy and rough, and it's drying out my fingertips. But the pattern is so easy and fast that I can't complain that much. These socks fall solidly in the category of long-term planning, as they'll be a holiday gift for J. I know it's only August, but I have several sweaters I want to knit this fall, so in my opinion it's not at all too early to start my holiday knitting!