Well That Was a Surprise

When I'm knitting a shawl on a circular needle, I come to expect that point when the shawl is wider than the needle is long and I can't get an accurate idea of how big it is. That was certainly the case for my Malabrigo Stockpile shawl, though I really didn't expect it to be as big as it ended up being (probably helped in no small part by the fact that the yarn is superwash -- and we all know how superwash wool loves to grow).

I officially finished the knitting on Monday night, binding off just before my bedtime, but I didn't weave in all my ends and block it until last night. Unfortunately, this photo doesn't do it justice (it's been dark and rainy here all day, so it's not just the fact that it's now evening to blame for the lack of good natural lighting). It ended up being a section less than I'd envisioned because my yarn would have run out -- as it is, I had only 20 grams left of my two skeins -- but it's so big as it is that I can't imagine I would have needed those additional 20-odd rows.

So now you can see how the idea worked itself out in yarn. My thought was alternating sections of stockinette and garter, and as the shawl grew, the stockinette sections would gradually get smaller while the garter sections got bigger. Originally I'd planned for 10 sections, but my yarn only held out for nine (my favorite/lucky number, so I'm okay with that!). Although the construction and stitches themselves are fairly simple, sometimes I really love simple when I want to showcase a beautiful hand-dyed yarn. I already have an idea for a companion shawl, so clearly I'm not done with stockinette and garter shawls just yet!

Rough Reentry

And we're back. It was a great weekend away and wonderful to see all the family, but boy it is hard to get back to the normal schedule. We got home at around 4:30 yesterday afternoon, so I spent all evening cleaning, doing laundry, and trying to get everything put away. I'm still not completely caught up, but I managed to get out of bed on time this morning, so that's saying something.

As busy as the weekend was, I did manage to get in some decent knitting time. My shawl is nearly finished -- I'm on the last garter stitch section. I'd planned to do one more section, but it's clear to me that I'm not going to have anywhere near the amount of yarn I'd need leftover once I finish the current section. It seems to be plenty big, so I'm calling it good.

It's so blob-like, it won't come into focus!

I also took along a skein of sock yarn (which I hand wound the night before we left because I was too lazy to get out the swift and ball winder), but I can't show you what I'm using it for -- sorry! It's really pretty yarn, though -- Verdant Gryphon Eidos in Hathor. I bought it at MDSW this year; I thought that it was appropriate for me to take festival yarn with me on a weekend when I wasn't at Rhinebeck.

This week will, I hope, be pretty typical, with the usual things keeping me busy but not crazed. I'm hoping to finish winding up the singles that I spun for Spinzilla so I can start plying them later in the week or this weekend, and at some point I have to get back to that baby blanket (and figure out what sweater I'm going to knit to go with it). This month is just flying by, and those deadlines that seemed so far away are getting a lot closer.

Discombobulated

It's been a very weird week, and it's messing me up. On Monday, Rainbow's preschool/daycare was closed for a teacher in-service day, so I was home with her. That in and of itself wasn't an issue, but it meant that all day yesterday I kept thinking it was Monday and had to keep reminding myself that it was already Tuesday. As if that wasn't enough, we are headed out of town on Friday to visit some family for the weekend, which means I have a three-day work week followed by (essentially) no weekend in which to get my usual errands and chores done. It will be great to see the family, but traveling is such a hassle.

It's been hard to get much crafting done this week, so everything is moving along at a snail's pace. I'm still working on my Malabrigo Stockpile shawl and have three sections left to do, provided my yarn holds out (I have officially reached that critical stage that I reach in all projects when my yarn looks like it won't be enough).

I'm still debating whether or not to bring this with me for the weekend; I think it may be a bit unwieldy, and there's always the question of whether or not airport security will let me through with it. I think perhaps a sock (on DPNs, even) might be a better bet, but that also means getting out the ball winder and swift to wind some sock yarn. I do have some DK and worsted wound for some small accessories, but those would require circular needles. In the end, I may stick one project in my carry-on bag and one in the checked bag if space allows.

Other projects are languishing at the moment. I haven't touched my Window to My Soul in a couple of weeks at least; it doesn't make a good travel project due to the charts, the cable needle, and the two attached skeins of yarn. And of course there's still the big pile of Spinzilla singles that need to be wound up before I can ply them. I've been doing about skein one a day when I can, but I think the rest may need to wait until next week.

I'm going to try to get a post to go up while I'm gone, but with all the packing and laundry and other preparing to do, that may not happen, so bear with me while things are weird. I'll do my best to get back on a normal schedule next week.

Still Knitting

Spinzilla officially kicked off at midnight yesterday, but I've decided not to make myself nuts about it. No doubt there are people who stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to start spinning and will continue to do so for the duration of the week. I'm under no illusions that I will be anywhere close to winning the contest; my goal is just to spin when I can and get as much done as I'm able. At most, I'm getting an hour and half to two hours of spinning time each night.

I mentioned in my last post that I'd divided up what was left of my Romney fleece into 2 oz. bundles. Last night I manged to spin up the first one, and I must say that it was excellent practice for my long draw. I only had the yarn break twice on me, and while they're not nearly as even as my worsted-spun singles, these singles were getting more consistent toward the end. It is rather satisfying to see that bobbin full of poofy singles.

I am not spinning every spare minute of every day, though. I'm still knitting during my lunch break (and I do have a swatch to finish and block that needs to be sent off this weekend). Last week I started a new shawl with that beautiful green Malabrigo Sock for the October Stockpile event in the Ravelry Malabrigo group. I'd had this idea in my head for a while, so I wanted to see how it worked out in yarn. I started working during my lunch breaks toward the end of last week and then worked on it for a couple of hours on Friday night while I got caught up with my DVR, but it saw a lot of attention on Sunday, when we drove out to the middle of nowhere (or so it seemed) to visit with my father-in-law's family. We had about five hours total in the car, so you can imagine how much knitting that meant.

I'm about halfway through my planned sections for this shawl, though the rows are getting longer and taking longer. This has to get done this month to qualify for the knitalong, so it's going to be seeing a lot of attention in the weeks to come.