I returned from Washington, DC last week only to find that spring had arrived in my absence.  The day before we left it was snowing large lofty flakes that looked more like falling feathers than snowflakes.  They melted as soon as they touch the ground, but it was snowing nonetheless.  Just a few days later, we came home to sunny 70s, and by the end of the week it was in the 80s and pushing 90.  This week, so far, it has stayed in the 80-90 degree range the entire time.  I think we bypassed spring and went directly to summer!  My husband took me to dinner last night at Cracker Barrel, and I was really glad I had brought my newest knitted shawl along.  It helped me fend off the icy blast of air conditioning!

And now for something completely different….

My husband is a musician.  He started playing violin when he was 3.  He also plays classical guitar, trumpet, piano, mandolin, and cello, among others.  He passed along to me some interesting musical videos that I would like to share.  Check them out!

Greg Patillo, flute:  Inspector Gadget and Peter and the Wolf

Alex Depue, violin:  Owner of a Lonely Heart

My green shawl is finally finished, just in time for spring. Whew! That took much longer than it was supposed to, but I guess it is my own fault for being such a perfectionist. I blocked it on Saturday and wore it to church yesterday. The color of yarn is truer in the picture of the full shawl than in the detail pic.

Here are the specs:

Pattern: Large Rectangle shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I rewrote the edging pattern for a deeper edging, as the shawl was rather small and the silk would not stretch much when blocked.

Yarn: Jade Sapphire Cashmere-Silk (55% silk, 45% cashmere; 400 yds.) in the Oceana colorway, 2 skeins.

Needles: The pattern called for a size 7, but I used a 6 instead.

Finished size: 62″ x 22″

My husband and I both agree:  It is good to be home.  We traveled to Washington, DC for his job for a few days earlier this week, but were very glad to return home.  We arrived on Sunday, and we discovered that on Sunday almost all of the restaurants where we were staying are closed on Sundays.  While walking around and looking for a place to eat, though, we did take a nice walk completely around the White House.  (Had I known we were staying so close to it, I would definately have taken my camera with me.)  But, we were simply looking for a bite to eat, and I was wearing 3″ heels, I was not about to walk back there for a picture.  After all, we all know what the White House looks like, right?  Note to self:  Next time I go to a city where I plan to do quite a bit of walking, I should take along at least one pair of walking shoes.  (I am a very petite 4′10″ and so I wear heels every day.  All of my clothing is tailored for heels and, unless I am working out, it never occurs to me to wear anything else.)  My husband and I did enjoy dinner at a couple of nice restaurants, however, and enjoyed spending the time together in travel and at the hotel.  I did plan on visiting several museums, but I became ill the day after we arrived and did not really get out of the hotel much except to eat.  On the day we were to leave, I did have to check out of the hotel several hours before my husband finished with work.  So, I did strike out on my own to visit Stitch DC, a knitting shop just a metro ride away.  The shop was small and did not really have a wide selection.  (I was looking mostly for lace and/or sock yarn, and I wanted something I did not commonly see at stores in my area.)  I did, however, find a cone of Habu textiles 100% silk in the mocha color.  It contained over 1800 yards of shimmery taupe colored silk, so I could not resist.  It will make a lovely lace shawl and be a nice souvenir from my trip.  That little jaunt exhausted me, so I unwound at the Border’s Cafe for a while and then spent about an hour at my husband’s office before leaving for the airport.  After a fiasco with my husband’s plane ticket (he had the eticket, the confirmation number, and a seat assignment, but was not in the airline’s computer system for the second half of our flight) and a long trek in Chicago across the entire O’Hare airport, we finally made it home at nearly midnight.

When we arrived home, I discovered two things:  that spring had arrived in our absence and that some yarn I ordered arrived from the UK.  Our lawn had been dead and brown when we left, but now it is turning green.  The magnolias had bloomed, and the pear, dogwood, and crabapple trees are just starting to sprout new green leaves.  Today, the temperature actually reached 80 degrees…a big change from last Saturday’s chilly snow that melted as soon as it hit the ground.  Since being home, I did have a chance to finish that green shawl that I had been working on.  I blocked it this afternoon and plan to unpin it in the morning.  I did have a bit of trouble with the edging.  It is knitted on, and the first stitches are to be grafted together with the ending stitches.  I tried grafting it two different times, but it still looks strange to me, and obviously grafted.  Normally grafting is not a problem, but I think this time it is due to the lace patterning along with the grafting.  I will take pics tomorrow of the finished shawl.  (The yarn I recieved is 1000 yards of ivory laceweight cashmere that I purchased on Etsy.  I cannot wait to knit with it!)

I really have been remiss in my posting lately.  I suppose that my knitting discouragement has overflowed into other aspects of my life.  After my fiasco with my green shawl, I did not even want to look at it for quite a while so I pushed it aside for a bit while I contemplated what to do.  I frogged it back to the original body and expanded the original edging pattern.  I am currently about 2/3 finished with the edging.  This discourages me because my goal was to finish it today and block it…

…because I am going on a trip!  I wanted to put the project behind me so I could work on something fresh and new on the airplane.  Well, somewhat fresh and somewhat new.  I am taking the shawl that I started when I pushed the green one aside as I contemplated my options.  It is the melon shawl from Victorian Lace Today (where else?) knitted in Sangria laceweight merino from Spunky Eclectic.  I did not like the edging on the shawl in the book, so I am borrowing an idea from Grumperina and applying the narrow point border.  I am also taking some alpaca sock yarn and the Bayeriche Sock pattern by Eunny Jang. 

As for where I am going…I am going to keep that under wraps for a bit.    It is a business trip for my husband, but his boss told him to bring his wife!  I am going to enjoy a few days off work, visit a yarn shop and a couple of museums, and (of course) knit!  I will post pics and details when I return.

Eunny Jang, the brilliant knitwear designer and knitter extraordinaire, just became the new editor of Interweave Knits!  (IK is a staple for every knitter.)  She is my favorite designer, and I cannot wait to see the wonderful things she will do with the magazine. 

Read the press release.