Now, Back To Knitting

What's on your needles? What have you finished lately?

Yarn Cravin', my local yarn shop (LYS), has a sock club. This month we decided to start a shawl KAL for something different, and we chose Multnomah (Ravelry link) to knit. I'm using Destination Yarn in the National Cherry Blossom Festival colorway to knit mine. Below is a photo of my progress just starting out.



Jeanne, the dyer, did a trunk show at YC not too long ago, but I was a fan of her yarn long before that! She also dyed yarn for our sock club. (Right now her Etsy shop is empty because she's taking care of a newborn, but she'll be back soon!)

Anyway, I chose this colorway because on June 9, Bill and I leave with 50+ seventh graders again for Washington, D.C.! I thought yarn that celebrates the cherry blossoms of our nation's capitol would be good bus knitting. However, I might be finished with Multnomah before then. So what's a girl to do?

Join another KAL, that's what!

Wendy, of Wendy Knits fame, has started the Summer Mystery Shawlette KAL. Clues are given in installments with knitting time in between each one. Join in with me? I'm going to use Dream In Color in the Beach Fog colorway. Photos as soon as I wind the yarn!

I just mailed this baby sweater off today to a knitting friend who will be delivering a baby girl this summer. It is knit from Dream In Color Classy - a worsted weight superwash. Pardon the unfinished sweater. I snapped this photo before tucking all the ends. All the knitting was done, though.



Another knitting friend is expecting in September, so I have some secret knitting going on for her, too.

Are you hearing about the end of the world coming? While I don't believe it, I can't help but wonder because my Cleveland Indians remain in first place!! GO TRIBE! Finally, this year, I am not embarrassed to be an Indians fan. :-)

Socks

I think I'm finally getting the hang of knitting with these toothpicks. I've turned the heel of my first big people sock, my Wild Thing (the name of the yarn, not the pattern) sock. To celebrate, I ordered some sock yarn from Cider Moon, a small Central Ohio yarn dyer. Having grown up in Central Ohio, I still have a fondness for the area. Their yarn can also be found at The Loopy Ewe. Send them some support!

I also decided to join two sock KAL's. Might as well keep me moving on the socks! I joined The Sensational Knitted Socks KAL and Interweave's Favorite Socks KAL. I have the books, and I'm starting to knit socks. Belonging to a group will help keep me moving and provide me with help and support along the way.

My Dad expressed an interest in receiving some handknitted socks and I can't think of a better way to thank him for all the great things he's done over the years than giving him a pair of socks to wear in the Birks that seem to always be on his feet. He has inside Birks and outside Birks and just swaps them as he goes in and out of the house, kind of like Mr. Rogers swapped his loafers for sneakers when he came and went. (Just in case you didn't know, all those cardigans Fred Rogers wore? Those were handmade by his mother. Knitted, of course.) I guess I know where my love for Birkenstocks comes from. I think I have 5 pair right now. And yes, like my dad, I wear them in the house with socks in the winter.

Must be a German thing.