Knitting Update

You'd think, with all the traveling I've done lately, that I would have mountains of carefully finished items to show you. Somehow, I have just not managed to be as productive on the knitting front as I would expect. What's worse, this coming Saturday is the last weekend of farmer's market, which means I have several special requests that are due. But here are the highlights of the items I'm currently concentrating on.

First, a basic mitred cotton shawl from my standard recipe. The lady who does the metal yard sculptures has offered to barter one of her items for a shawl, and specifically asked for one in exactly the same turquoise & chocolate colors as my own. I'm thinking I might do something just a little different along the trailing edge - maybe a triple cross stitch (not the correct name) like you will have seen in Knitty.com's Dream Swatch. In any case, I'm supposed to have it done by this Saturday, and you'll notice I have a little bit to go (even if this picture was taken before last night's debate, when I made some progress). I hate to admit I'm not going to make it, even if Chris is a very reasonable, down-to-earth person who lives close enough that late delivery is not really inconvenient. But on the other hand, I haven't yet picked out which item from her repertoire I'll be requesting in exchange. A small flock of the little birds, perhaps?

Next, my rendition of the Baby Yoda sweater designed by Cari Luna and available free on Ravelry.com, in a "pool blue" color from Peaches & Creme (of course). It's a request for a blue-eyed baby girl, and I have a big funky blue & purple rubber button that I'm going to use for a closure instead of the ties. I just need to finish about 60% of the arms, which I'm doing simultaneously, and assemble the whole thing. If I concentrated on it, I could finish the sweater in an evening.

"If." Huh.

Next on our hit list is a smoke ring kind of thing made out of the leftover Glimmer Alpaca in EZ's broken rib stitch, accented with some really beautiful little crystal buttons from Katey's grandmother (acquired by way of Dan's sewing stash). This started out as a little something to amuse me on the trip to Maine, then became an intended gift for Ruth's birthday. About the time we were late for the party and I discovered that I didn't have the right needle to properly sew the buttons on to the edge of the piece, I gave up and brought Ruth a bottle of wine instead. At this point, I think it's going to cousin Julie in exchange for some pretty little silver hoops she gave me last weekend. Imagine it with 3 or 4 of the buttons attached along one end, so you could button it closed around your neck as a light, pretty neck wrap.

And finally, here's just a glimpse of some of the fabulous stuff I picked up at the Common Ground Fair. Socks would be one obvious option. Or I'm thinking about a baby sweater pattern which was originally intended for a thick & thin yarn, but might work as an extra-snuggly garment for fall outings. Or maybe a felted bag with some really intense colorwork? I'm thinking about a greek key pattern or something like that, and dyed indigo leather handles and base. Or maybe something completely different, depending on where my mind goes when I finally get around to it.

And where is the anniversary shawl, do you ask? Trust me, it has a place of honor in the portion of my brain which handles guilt. I'm going to finish it soon. Really.