Hidcote is finished!

Hidcote Garden Shawl being blocked!

I AM FINISHED!  YAY!  So I feel that this picture is a great representation of the shawl.  I think the color is spot on, and it shows the variegation really well.  Finished size is 84″ across the top and 40″ from top to tip.  I finished knitting on Wednesday and then blocked it wednesday overnight.  I am so dang happy, I wore it around everywhere yesterday.  I have not gotten any action shots yet, though, which is sad.  Everything went well, blocking is lots of fun, and I now have an itch to knit another shawl.  I know, I know, I said it would not happen, but the bug has bit me.

Joel's socks

In other news I have made good progress on Joel’s socks to realize last night that I lost my note sheet (probably as I was packing up at Starbucks) and now I am crabby with them.  I am to the point where I am heel turning, so that is a little nerve-wracking as I am using a completely new technique and not quite sure if I am doing things right.  I will have to figure something out, though.

Lets see, in other news it was recently my birthday and I got the batt Joel bought me.  It is from Wooly Treasures on Etsy here.  I have been lusting over these batts for a while, and when Joel asked for birthday ideas this shop was on the short list to visit.  He learns well, check it out!

4 oz blend of merino, bfl, alpaca, and all kinds of other fun stuff I can't remember

Oh, and yesterday I was visiting our favorite LYS and I decided (see above) to make another shawl.  I picked the Lily of the Valley Shawl by Nancy Bush from the book Lace Style which I own.  I have been eying it up, but was scarred away by the nupps because I had an evil encounter with bobbles and didn’t want to do anything of the sort again.  But I have recently learned that nupps COULD be my friend, they are SUPPOSEDLY not as evil as bobbles.  So, anyway, I was at the LYS with Paulette and Sarah and I was looking at yarn and decided on a very pretty two-tone green Misti Alpaca lace.  Then wonderful Paulette bullied me into buying it for me (bullied in the nicest way possible).  Isn’t she sweet!  So I got this beautiful new pile to begin my new shawl!

Misti Alpaca Lace for Lily of the Valley Shawl

Oh, and in other news I flew out to Oregon last weekend for a job interview and had a blast in the city for the weekend.  I visited some friends who live there and even taught some crocheting!  Paul has caught that bug!  But, just so you know, MEN are not allowed to use crochet hooks, they use ‘talons’.

Paul with yarn and crochet 'talons' in hand

And then, the most wonderful thing happened, they offered me the job!  So Joel and I will be relocating to Oregon and sadly leaving good ol’ Wisconsin.  So much to do!  I will be leaving in less than two weeks.  Crazy, I know.  So the knitting looks like it might be put on hold a little for now!