Something New

How's that for an opener? This is the Adamas Shawl from Knit Picks. I'm knitting it in Knit Picks lace-weight Merino wool called "Shadow" in colorway "Oregon Coast". The yarn is really lovely and has various subtle shades of blue & pink so that it reminds me of a dark opal. And the most awesome part is that the price for the required 2 balls of yarn AND the pattern was...are you ready for this?... UNDER $7! At that price, how could you NOT knit this beauty?

Anyway, this is the first honest-to-goodness laceweight shawl I've ever (attempted) done, and I'm finding that it's not too bad. I'm already starting to memorize the pattern, so I'm not having to refer so much to the chart. I'm really liking it, but it's kind of worrying me that my ball of laceweight seems unaffected by the amount of knitting I've done. It's like the "loaves and the fishes" story, but in tiny little laceweight wool. But, the important thing about the shawl is that it is something new.

In that spirit, I will not post a pic of the Crappy Cardi. However, be assured that I am making progress on the I-Cord border. I've completed the left front and the back and am fast approaching the right-front and cardigan front. Well, maybe not so fast, but I'm still actually working on it (instead of burning it in the bar-b-que), which is good enough for me.

I also will not post a pic of the 2nd hand-dyed sock. I'm closing in on the toe, but progress is slow and boring, and I'll not make you all suffer.

But I will show you my cumulative stash of Blackbird yarn:
That's over 500 yards now. Although I don't think I'll be able to use the lighter skein, I'm still counting it. I'll probably use it for the inside of the hem. I'm fighting the urge to cast on Rogue until I get the yarn done, but the time it takes to do the flicking and the carding and the spinning and the plying is making me antsy. This "skein-a-week" pace I've got going is just not working for me. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep holding out for long, because I've already been scouring my stash for some comparable yarn, and I think I've found some. You'll be the first to know if I succumb.