Missed pictures - Kiri post-blocking

I just realized that I never posted pictures of my completed Kiri after I was done blocking it. Since the Black Diamonds & the Hidcote are ever increasing blobs & hardly picture worthy yet, I decided to post Finished Object pictures instead.

Saturday Sky, a few days late

I have nothing much to show in the way of knitting pictures. Hidcote is now a bigger light green blob, & so is the Black Diamond Shawl. (Like Tina, I have been "Knitting on the Side" & not been completely faithful to Hidcote lately.)

So the picture for this entry is the Saturday Sky from the weekend just past. In the picture is a statue of Mary, since I wasn't at home this past weekend. (No, there aren't any near-life size statues in my yard.) I spent the weekend on a Women's Retreat held by my church. It was very relaxing & enjoyable. I even got some knitting done.

Before the retreat, I managed to swing by Hearthstone Knits, an LYS that I had never had time to visit before last Friday. I found more yarn to finish my Black Diamond Shawl, so that I won't have to cut out any repeats or wonder if I have enough yarn to do the edge.

While at Hearthstone Knits, I saw Ann, & her Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I also got to see the dress for which the shawl is being knit. It's going to be simply lovely, & I pray all goes well for the wedding!

For anyone interested in seeing a completed Hidcote Garden Shawl, Susan has finished hers. It's breathtaking! & it's making me wish I'd chosen a darker yarn.

Another Coincidence.

I've finished chart 4 & chart 5 this week, & have started on chart 6. It's time move beyond the field of flowers.

I've also learned not to get over confident. I was doing the very last "purling back" row of chart 5 in front of the TV, purling back being boring, of course. Then since I was already involved in the show, I thought I could go ahead & start chart 6 while I watched the rest of the show. Bad Idea. When doing a complete change of pattern, & a foundation row for setting up the new pattern, it's NOT a good idea to be watching TV at the same time. Much frogging ensued, but it's all better now.

My two younger children both had birthday parties to attend this weekend, which ordinarily might cut into knitting time, depending on how far I would have to drive for each party, & when they were held.

Except that both of these were home parties. (YEAH! No Chucky Cheese!) Not only were both of these parties going to be held at the birthday kids' houses, both kids were having them at the same time. Not only that, but both kids live on The.Same.Street, & they even live Directly.Opposite.Each.Other! Couldn't get any more convenient than that!

It was a gorgeous day to have parties at home too, because the weather was warm & sunny, so the kids could play outside a lot. & it meant that I could go park my car in the shade for a couple hours & knit in peace & quiet.

Shawl Progress (a.k.a. Knitting Aliens)

I've finished with chart 4 of the Hidcote Garden Shawl pattern. During the massive boredom of the purling back ever increasing rows, I am starting to see things in the back side of the shawl.

I know the front side is supposed to look like a field of flowers, but I'm thinking that the back side in it's pre-blocked state looks rather more like a sea of Alien heads.

The Day After

Warning -- Not a Knitting Related Post.

I couldn't bear to write yesterday, but I did a lot of reading, & a lot of thinking.

I thought of this day 5 years ago. I was driving when I heard about the first plane & the second one, & I was driving at the anniversary of those times. Later yesterday, I read a very American-centric post on an international knitting board, & thought of all the other additional innocent victims of terrorism, all around the world. I read a reply to that post, about how the person replying already had 9/11 as a tragic anniversary, but in her case it was a friend who died on 9/11/99, while trying to escape an abusive ex-husband. So I thought about domestic abuse being terrorism on a smaller scale.

I dedicated my knitting yesterday to remembering all victims of terrorism, & praying for their friends & families left behind.

Then I came across this blog entry. Very eloquent, & very thought provoking.

5 years ago yesterday, the thought that kept running through my head was how sad all this must make God. To have someone so misunderstand what God was about that they use God as an excuse for THAT???

5 years ago today, people who were stranded in NYC due to lack of transportation were waking up from the steps of buildings where they took refuge for the night. A picture of that is my favorite one from that tragic time period. It shows how life goes on. How even in the face of insane violence, people can perservere & set a better example, because when people can safely sleep outside in the middle of NYC, it is an amazing example of the best in humanity, rather than the worst.

That, afterall, is what God is really about. God functions to bring out the best in humanity, to give people the strength to do more good than they thought they could do, & the strength to continue to do & be good in the face of evil.

The Day After, there were so many examples of the best in humanity. There was a spirit of togetherness that could have been harnessed for so much good. Imagine if the politicians had used the events as a rallying point for alternative energy, how much less dependent on oil we might be today. The potential for good that could have come out of that day on a nationwide scale vs. the reality of the way people's patriotism was manipulated by politicians is very stark, if you think about it.

A lesson in how blogger works

I started a post that I didn't publish, since I was waiting until I had added pictures. I had thought that Blogger would put the posts onto the blog in the order published, but it didn't. Even though I had never published this entry, it put it further down the blog order. So I copied & cut the entry that was to go here, & will start it over, copying it into a brand new entry.

Wednesday in reverse

Yesterday was similar to Wednesday, except that the sale-induced stash inhancement was greater, & the Small World Encounter was smaller. It was the day for the September St. Louis Knitter's Guild meeting, & I arranged to leave the house in time to go to the KAL being held before the meeting. However, plans changed at the last minute when an online friend, Heather, one half of the Tale of Two Knittys team, mentioned that Myer's House (A big LYS that I hadn't visited yet, due to it being a ways away from me) was having a huge sale this weekend.

So I squeezed in a visit to the LYS & arrived at the Guild meeting sort of early for the regular meeting, but not in time for the KAL. It was worth it though, since I got yarn for several gift scarves at 50% off, & also 2 shawls worth of yarn for 20% off & 2 shawls worth at 50% off. Plus a free measuring tape.

While I was at the Guild meeting, & ran into a lady from a Book Group I've been attending off & on for several years. I had no idea that she knit. She & I sat together & got caught up on chit-chat, since it had been a while since we had both made it to the same Book Group meeting.

I also met Sheri, of the Loopy Ewe. She gave a presentation about her brand new online sock yarn store, & showed off a very cool Namaste bag. (The turquoise Vintage style at the bottom of the page. Gorgeous color!)

I'm far enough along in the Hidcote Garden Shawl that I could manage to KIP on it, without getting hopelessly lost, so I got a few rows done during the meeting.

It's a small world afterall...

So. I have been madly working on the Hidcote Garden Shawl every chance I get. This afternoon I ended up getting home a bit early, so I was knitting away while there was still daylight. I finished the second chart of the shawl & started on the third. My husband asked what I wanted to do about dinner, & suggested we go out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant. To tell the truth, I really wasn't wanting to put my knitting down. ;-) Then I realized that the place he wanted to go for dinner is right near an LYS that has late hours, & was having a big "Annual Sale" to boot.

So I went ahead & stopped mid row (got to love circulars for the ability to do that.) I made a quick trip into the LYS while my son & my husband got us a table. When I arrived at the restaurant, I sat down & finished the row while we were waiting to put our order in, & then started the purl row that followed. Then my husband said, "I think those ladies over there are doing the same thing." My husband & Rachel's husband must be on the same wavelengths this week. I'd been so busy with my own knitting that I hadn't noticed that there were four women knitting & comparing projects just a couple tables over from us.

After my husband brought me out of my knitting fog, I realized one of the knitters was Jenn. When I went over to say hello, I discovered that Shannon was there too, & I got to see this scarf in progress.

I guess I was about due for another "Small World" encounter.

Another WIP

Hidcote Garden Shawl is available! & I have proven just how addicted to shawl knitting I have become. I remembered that I had a opened a PayPal account a long time ago for some scrapbooking eBay purchases. Lo & behold, the account was still active & I am now the proud possessor of a couple of Miriam's wonderful patterns. Yarn that I had intended for a different shawl was spontaneously switched. I managed to complete the first chart today, but I have a feeling this may end up a "weekends only" project, due to the need for strong daylight in dealing with the laceweight yarn.