Possibilities

During the summer months I find less time for knitting, which isn't a surprise as the garden, the outdoors, and business in general, is part of life for many of us.  However, starting with the Alta Retreat, I have had a little more leisure time and I have put it to good use. 

For retreat knitting I thought a new project should be uncomplicated and light in color.  We were unsure if the lighting would be adequate in some of the meet up rooms and I certainly wanted to see my knitting. Lighting proved to be fine, but I was satisfied my project was easy, and very happy it had time to grow.

The first photo is of the shawl, a week ago and the second is the shawl a couple of days ago. The yarn has been an unknown in my stash for quite some time, but since it is one of my favorite blends, merino/silk, it had a way of speaking to me from time to time. The intent, when I bought it (a stash sale), was to dye it. That's still my intent but, I'm knitting first, then will dye, or have the shawl dyed, afterwards. 

Vicki's inspiration was another piece of the framework that helped make my decision to use this undyed yarn. She has created many beautiful yarns during her Project Spectrum journey and I was the lucky recipient of the pink she shows in this post, a yarn she named for her Grandmother Viginia. In the picture it's paired with a Shaffer Anne, another long time stash yarn, and I'm trying to decide between Katriel or Different Lines.

During Retreat (which was weeks ago!) I watched as Vicki's Different Lines grew more fabulous with every row and, seeing her pleasure when it was finished, was a treat. I'd been sitting on the fence, but now I know, as soon as the last stitch of Holden (oh yes, that's the shawl I've been knitting and I almost forgot to tell you) I'll start on a Different course.

As you can see, I DO knit and because I deleted a draft post, this one is 1900 AGAIN!   1900 posts and 62,181 comments. Apparently blogging lives.

Comments

[Squishy]

Beautiful shawl. I'm going to have to check my stats. I think we all go through periods of blogging and not. This summer was a busy one with lots of travel and sickness and I barely blogged. I do miss many people who seem to have dropped their blogs. Thank you for continuing, you are a constant source of inspiration.

[Suzy]

It's all so pretty! Knit on grrlfriend!

[CindyCindy]

Oh, yes. Blogging lives. It's just not as intense as it once was, which I think, makes for some very interesting posts. Don't you think so? Love Holden and the new yarns will be lovely together. Keep on knitting, grrl!!!

[Kym]

Sometimes we knit in the background, sometimes right up front! The undyed shawl is lovely -- can't wait to see how it all turns out in the end. (And the pairing of the Shaffer Anne with Vicki's lovely pink yarn looks wonderful!) Knit on, Margene!

[Cheryl S.]

I didn't see the pink yarn last night - nice combo!

[Anne]

It's going to be beautiful when finished. You'll have a really nice, evenly dyed piece since you are going to dye it post-knitting too. PRETTY!

[Barbara-Kay]

..and then again, you might consider leaving it undyed, a "snow queen" shawl. It's very pretty, either way.

[Joy]

Gorgeous!

[Vicki]

Oooh, Katriel is in my Faves, too! Holden has grown -- so beautiful!

[Rachel]

Lovely new shawl and I am glad you decided to go with the Different Lines it is next to go on my needles too, just need to finish a couple (or more) things first.

[Carole]

That's a lot of posts and a lot of comments. Of course blogging lives - and so does your knitting! Yay!

[Cookie]

Woo Hoo!

Thanks for the pattern links. Now that I'm knitting again (sort of), I need patterns that will hold my interest. You are so good at finding them.

Lovely knitting, of course.

xo

[silvia]

Yes indeed, the blog is alive and kicking! We love you!

That shawl is veeeerrry intriguing. The light color is lovely and the start of the lace is very pretty. I wonder what color she'll end up being? I vote (always) for orange... ;-)

[Chris]

Getting the shawl dyed after is a clever way to avoid pooling. :)

[birdsong]

Lovely ideas, both of them! I like your sweet, little border (which you humbly didn't mention, but probably thought up yourself!), and look forward to seeing what results you get. Now, if you can find a pokeberry bush in the neighborhood, you can get a terrific deep berry color!

[Kristin]

Blogging does live! Lovely shawl

[jill]

A very peaceful knit, Margene.