"Bigger on the Inside" Shawl is Finished!

Well....almost. *LOL* I've completed the knitting and now need to give it a bath and block it. I'm off from work the rest of this week and hope to find time to get it blocked while I'm off. Now, what's next? Sure, I have several UFOs I could finish, but what's the fun in that? I had an idea for a Christmas gift for a coworker the other day, and I think I may start that after blocking the shawl. Speaking of blocking, this will be the first item I've had to block since Tilly TabbyCat came to live at my place. This could get interesting! :-)

TARDIS Shawl Progress

I've made great progress on my "Bigger on the Inside" shawl. I'm five rows from the end of the TARDIS section; after that there's a fairly mindless two inch wide border of ribbing. Then I'll be ready to block it. I'm really looking to blocking it to see how it REALLY looks. Most of the shawl has been knit while watching episodes of Doctor Who. I started the shawl with the Ninth Doctor, went up through all the episodes currently available on Amazon Prime, then started through the classic episodes on Prime. The classic shows are campy and fun; I LOVE the low-budget special effects! I've also developed a nearly-50-years-too-late crush on Jamie McCrimmon (portrayed by Frazer Hines), a companion of the Second Doctor. It's been a fun experience, with only one glaring error so far. It's one that I'm sure I can repair, though, so I'm not worried about it. I don't think anyone but a knitter who has already knit this shawl would notice, and I don't know anyone locally who has knit it. :-) Well, lunch break is over, so back to work!

The TARDIS Shawl Adventure

Fall is in the air in my little corner of the world....there's a nip in the morning, warm sunny afternoons, and cool crisp evenings. I love Fall, and always have loved it. I love the look in the autumn sky after the August haze lifts. I love watching the trees for that first hint of color. I love being able to sit comfortably on my deck in the evenings after work, knitting until it gets too dark to see. *Happy Fall Dance* A lot of my knitting time in the past couple of weeks has been in waiting rooms (Daddy's having some back issues), so it's mostly been relegated to what I refer to as my "Waiting Room Socks". I always keep a pair of "plain vanilla" socks on needles in a little bag that's easily carried into waiting rooms. The pattern is so simple that I don't need to carry it with me (except for a little 3 x 5 cheat sheet that I still use when I turn the heel to be sure I don't make a mess), and it's a great conversation starter. At home, though, I'm working on my "Bigger On The Inside" shawl, because I want to have it finished by the Doctor Who 50th anniversary celebration on November 23. I've now completed the Time Vortex Lace section and have completed 8 of 41 rows in the TARDIS section. The yarn is as close to TARDIS blue as I could get, and so far I'm very happy with my progress. As with most shawls, I won't really know how it looks until it's completed and blocked. I'm anxious to see how it finishes up!

August Already?

It's hard to believe how quickly the summer can get away from you! Especially when you start to think about holiday knitting. You see, hen you're a slow, easily-distracted knitter like myself, you have to start your holiday knitting early. I've got some of mine finished, believe it or not. Still have a few things to do, but not many. I stopped on my holiday knitting to make a "Regular Guy Beanie" for a young distant cousin of mine who was fascinated by my knitting during a recent family visit. Since I made a beanie for him, I also had to make one for his younger brother. Which meant that I needed to make something for their sister as well. Both beanies are completed, and I've finished about a mitten and a half. I should be able to finish those up this week. Speaking of mittens, have you discovered the Cloisonee pattern by the Yarn Harlot? It works up pretty quickly, and I love that it looks more complicated than it really is. :-) I'd started a "Bigger on the Inside" shawl for myself, but laid it aside to get these little "cousin projects" finished. Then I have another UFO that I promised a friend some time ago. I really need to finish that up before going back to my shawl. But I wanna work on my shawl. It has little TARDISes (TARDIi?) On it and is just the thing for a Whovian like myself. So many projects, so little time!

I'm Baaaaaaack!

I've been away from my blogging for so long that you probably thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth....I have been spending most of my online time on my Kindle Fire, and I'm just too slow keying on the onscreen keyboard to enter long blocks of text without getting frustrated. But I ordered myself a bluetooth keyboard, which arrived just a few minutes ago. It works like a charm, so I'll be better about blogging now. :-) I've been working on some Christmas gifts; Saturday I completed what I've been calling "hideous mittens". I love the pattern (The Yarn Harlot's "Cloisonne"), I love the yarn (good old dependable Cascade 220 superwash), but the colors are truly hideous! I made them for my supervisor at work; she's a big fan of the Baltimore Ravens, and their colors are purple with black and gold accents. Yuck. Oh, well, she'll like them and that's all that matters. I've ordered the yarn to knit myself a shawl called "Bigger on the Inside"....you guessed it.....a Doctor Who shawl! *LOL* I actually ordered some nice Cascade, but when it arrived it's much darker than I thought it would be. It's actually navy blue; that's okay, though. I'll make something else from it. Okay, I guess that's enough for my "return" post. :-) Have a great evening, and keep knitting!

Wombat Withdrawal

It's been awhile since I posted; I was excitedly preparing for a visit from my Aussie family. I finally met my darling grandson (aka "Wombat") for the first time and it was love at first sight! They were able to visit for three weeks, and the silence in my apartment has been deafening since their departure. The good news is that they arrived back home safe and sound and are, in fact, now off on a second trip. Little Wombat is already a seasoned world traveler! The toys I had knit for him were well received and went home with him. During the last few days of his visit he began calling me "Nan-Nan"; I can hardly wait for our first Skype session so I can hear it again (I hope!). Okay, I've been pitiful long enough. *LOL* Now, on to my current WIP: an entrelac beret! I'm knitting it from some yarn I bought at The Exchange Place during the Fall Folk Arts Festival last year. It's Lambs Pride, hand-dyed with daisy fleabane. The color is probably not a good one for me with my coloring, but I don't care. I love it, and plan to wear it. :-) Right now my only concern is that I still have a few rows left, and NOT MUCH YARN!! Keep your fingers crossed that I have enough to finish, because there is absolutely no hope of getting more! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

For the Wombat

 

My adorable grandson (AKA "Wombat") is coming to visit me at the end of the month, and I'm so excited!  I've knit a blanket for him, and these two toys have now been added to his stash.

 

The ball is the "Little Ball" pattern from the OddKnit website.  There are so many interesting things there!  I want to knit the eyeballs sometime before Halloween.  *LOL*  The pattern is written for DK yarn, but I used bulky, making it a larger ball.  It's about the size of a softball, which should be fine.

 

The caterpillar is the Cuddly Caterpillar pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn site.  Both were fun knits, and time well spent.

 

I'm battling a vile sinus infection and finally had to go to the doctor today to get antibiotics.  I don't like taking antibiotics; but I like sinus infections even less.  *sigh*

 

The weather here is rainy and gray.....this is expected to change to snow overnight, so we'll see what happens.  The doctor said I shouldn't go back to work until Thursday, so I might get in some knitting time tomorrow even if it doesn't snow.  :-)

 

Be well, fellow knitsters, and may Spring come soon!!