Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Yarn Along with mystery project reveal

Here I am yarning along again with the crew over at Ginny's Small Things

I made really good progress on this shrug this week. Actually I am almost done!  I can't believe it.  I really thought that it was never going to be done and although these last few inches are going more slowly than I would like the end is in sight.  I might actually get to wear to the wedding this Saturday! 2 more inches of jersey to go and then the binding off and kitchenering the ends together begins.  I can't wait to see what the lace is going to look like all blocked out.  I may not get much sleep tonight but at least the shrug will be done!

A few weeks ago I showed you a hint of a mystery project.  Well that project made its way to it's new home and now I can share it here. This is a shawl from the Faraway, So Close pattern by Carina Spencer.  I completely love this pattern. Actually I pretty much love all her patterns but this one is so easy to knit and yet it look so complicated and beautiful.  I think I could knit this over and over and never get bored with it.  The yarn is Knit Picks Chroma worsted and it was a perfect choice for this project. It is seriously soft and cozy- perfect for a shawl- and the colorway just worked out awesome! Somehow the variegation just came out in perfect stripes and the colors blended so wonderfully.  If I hadn't had a very special friend that this was intended for I totally would have kept it for myself. I did buy some more chroma to make one for myself though!

I finished Beautiful Unbroken this week and honestly I have to say I didn't really like it. The author is a nurse but also a poet so while I enjoyed her stories I found the book itself to be rather ponderous. The writing is beautiful but she uses a lot of words to say simple things and while that isn't a bad thing I just found it to be too much for my tastes.  She has some interesting things to say about travel nursing, being a hippie, and about working in NYC during the early days of the AIDS epidemic and I guess there would be more story to this than there actually was. I also read a quick and fun book by Julie Garwood this week called The Ideal Man, which was a very quick and fun, lighthearted read. I guess I am in the place right now where I have very limited time to read with work and the kids etc that when I do get a chance to read I want it to be quick and easy and not use up too much brain power.  Time to read some more fluff and then I will be ready for the intellectual reading again. With Christmas coming I have a whole book of stories of the advent to read with the boys so I am looking forward to that.

12 comments:

house full of jays said...

I am very excited to pull out our Christmas books. Do you have any favourite titles?
Your shrug looks lovely! Best of luck on the finishing touches!

Spinneretta said...

I always love getting out the Christmas books :)
The shrug is looking lovely- greta work! And the shawl is a stunner.

Crunchy Momma said...

I love that shrug! The color is beautiful.

Linda said...

I love the colour variation of your shawl, beautiful!

pinkundine said...

Good luck getting your shrug finished, you're so close!

Love the way the yarn striped in the shawl, I bet the recipient was delighted!

sara said...

Beautiful knitting, I can see why it may be difficult to part with such a gorgeous shawl.

Kristina said...

I love that shrug! It is really quite lovely. I think I'll have to add it to my list...

Charity said...

We just pulled our Christmas books out, too - such a fun part of the year. Your finished shawl is beautiful! Nice work. :)

Becks said...

Oooh I hope you get time to finish your shawl for the wedding. The shawl is very pretty, and looks a challenging knit too.

Tonya Gunn said...

Just gorgeous! Thanks for the reminder about getting out the children's Christmas books.

Emily said...

Both your shrug and shawl are wonderful! Great work!

Stacy said...

Both of your projects are beautiful! Good luck getting your shrug done so you can wear it out and show it off!