The joys of procrastination

There are many other things I should be doing now. I know this, yet here I am in the library, sipping coffee.

Part of the reason being a good friend from forever is in town. All the way from NY, and I haven't seen her in ages. Last night a large group of us locals got together with her and played pictionary, Duel Style! It was brilliant.

For those who have never played this version, we made it up. But the rules are fairly simple, and easy to remember even after several drinks. Split up into teams (we did girls vs boys) and alternate who draws. We had an enormous white board to use bigger than me. You have one minute to draw what is on your pictionary card (the category being detirmined by rolling dice or some such). Then both teams guess, and whoever guesses first gets the point. If there is question, the two people who guessed at the same time then get to have a duel!

Girls won of course. Although the boys won all but one of the duels.

Rays of Sun

I just finished a new shoulder shawl. I am in love with small shawls that just warm your shoulders.

The shawl is the Lakedale Shawl by Stephen West, from Malabrigo Book 3.

Yarn: The blue is Jitterbug from Colinette. I don't have the label, so I don't know the color way. The yellow is Socks that Rock lightweight. These colors were in my stash (Jitterbug from A, and Socks that Rock from J) and I couldn't resist the combination. Nice and bright. The blue makes me think of Starry Night and also what has come to be known as the Duc du Berry blue (from a medieval manuscript that reaaaaally liked that color).

I knitted this lovely shawl in three weeks. It kept me interested and enthused the whole way. I will say the bind-off was a pain (1000 stitches ish), but well worth it! I love this pattern. Here is the finished piece blocking:

I had a few modifications. Jitterbug has slightly less yardage than what the pattern called for, so I did fewer repeats of the center blue (I went to 211 instead of 231). The pattern is really easy to make larger or smaller because the edge repeat is two stitches. At the very end of the shawl, I didn't have enough of the blue to do the bind-off, so I bound off in the yellow. I think it looks quite nice that way, if I do say so myself. It reminds me of a few things, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, a sun against an azure sky among them. Here is a ravelry link, if anyone is interested.

And now, eye candy!

And I will leave you with the flowers in bloom! What do flowers need? Rays of sun!

Yarn Disaster

I recently was given some yarn. This yarn was given to me with the promise that if I untangled it, it would be mine (or whomsoever had the patience). It was hand dyed by Janel Laidman. I felt up to the task, so I took the bag o' yarn home. When I got it home I spread it out on my living room floor and stared in wonder (more like abject horror):

But, I am a patient woman. I got out my ball winder and began to turn the mess into a skein of yarn:

At which point I began to discover that there was stuff inside this ball. Christmas ornaments. Peacock feathers. Rafia. Sticks.

But, I have now wound two skeins, and I still have a mess. I think there are at least two more skeins of yarn to be found. I have my work cut out for me!