Casting on and cruising along

Proudly, I did not procrastinate this weekend. Not only did I work on my mother's shawl, I also cast on and knitted a few inches of my Ribby Shell. The shell is an interesting combination of K2P2 and K3P1 ribbing that I am knitting in cool sage green Endless Summer cotton from Elann. DK weight cotton on size 7 round needles is very nice indeed. It is moving along at a good pace despite the constant ribbing. When I actually have enough done to make it recognizable, I will post a picture.

The shawl on the other hand, is definitely moving at a snails pace. Lace weight yarn with size 8's is a bit of a drag. I have to be careful with every movement not to lose a stitch off the end of my needles. I had set myself a goal of completeing two pattern repeats per night (a total of 16 rows). While this may not sound like much, I am so slow with this that it takes me a couple hours. Sadly, I realized the other night that two pattern repeats equals approximately 2 inches of shawl length. To quote Homer Simpson, "Doh!". I am never going to have this finished by the time I see my mom in June.

This setback does not stop me from thinking about new projects however! I think next I would like to make a shrug. While I am not sure how or when I will wear something like that, they are just so darn cute. Particularly the pink 3/4 sleeve free pattern from Interweave. I had to physicially restrain myself from grabbing some stash and starting it last night. I would like to make the shrug out of some Debbie Bliss cashmerino that I have sitting around but I would need to adapt the pattern to aran weight yarn. Maybe that would be a good exercise for me... when the shawl is finished!

Progress reports and book reviews to come later this week. Plus, a sneak peak at this weekend's entry, I am heading to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday. Ohhh the stash... it is so good it almost hurts.

Cheers!