LACE!

You may have noticed that my knitting has been a little bit on the dull side lately.

Well, that's not entirely true....

My knitting has been rich in color, but rather plain in pattern.  I've done lots of work on my blanket and have been working on plain, basic socks.  All worthwhile projects, but nothing that really takes the breath away.  OK, that's not true, either, as the blanket does make one gasp....

Sigh.

You know what I mean.

Quite frankly, the Princess shawl wore me out.  I loved every stitch, but I needed a bit of a break for a while so that I could 'refill the well.'

And this weekend my well ran over, and I began to knit lace again.

1.  I sampled the yarn and beads for Christmas gift for my mother-in-law.  She had fallen in love with the version I made for myself, and had asked if I would knit one for her.  Given how wonderful she is with my girls, it's the least I can do.  It took me a long while to find just the right color...and now I need to get just the right beads.  I have the right color, but the wrong size.  SO, it's been set aside until I can track down the right beads.

2.  I swatched with this lovely raspberry for a small shawl.  I fell in love with the color of the yarn, but there is bamboo in the fiber so I knew it would have to use it for a shawl.  The pattern is picked out....and it will either go in the basket for a Christmas gift or will be donated to my P.E.O. chapter for the fall auction.  (I have a gazillion shawls....it's time to share the love!)

 3.  My friend Bonnie recently published a new pattern, Streusel.  It just so happened to be exactly what the doctor ordered.  I adore the simple edging and the way the garter stitch plays with the color of a mostly - but not quite - solid yarn.  Plus, the simple scarves and shawls like this in my collection get used a whole lot...so the more the merrier!

 4.  Just after I finished the Princess I did pick up my long-suffering Tibetan Clouds shawl and worked the first side.  This weekend I did a Russian join to attach the yarn so that I could work the second side.  Truth:  I'm not crazy about the side patterns, and I'm kicking myself for picking beads that don't show up better.....

 but my-oh-my, I still love the center!

 5.  I'm perhaps the most excited, though, about this last project.  This will be an Estonian lace scarf -  a pattern by Nancy Bush that I've long admired and wanted to do.  The kicker, though, is that I'm using some handspun silk to knit it!  It was a huge leap of faith to start this project, and for some reason it looks even more of a mess unblocked on the needles than other projects to so it's an even bigger trial to just keep going.  Good thing I pinned it out to see what it really looked like!

6.  There is one other lace project - a shawl I started when we went to Tucson this spring.  I am honestly having trouble trying to decide whether or not to keep going with the pattern as is.  The yarn is lovely - although it's made with an odd composition that makes it a bit uncomfortable to work with.  (Feels like cotton, with no give)  The color is delightful, though, and I have enough yardage to do a bigger pattern than the one I had chosen.  We shall see.  I've changed my mind about 800 times.

It's not really like me to start so very many things, but it has been a lot of fun to play this weekend.  As I told Sean, it's been one of the most unproductive productive weekends I've ever had!