A very busy week here at Missouri Star and the rest of the month proposes to be even busier. I can’t even promise I will be blogging for a couple of weeks, but we’ll have to see. Of course, there’s work and school, but also some fun goings on. Next Friday my Round Robin group meets here at the house to begin our Mystery Quilt Project. And on Saturday a couple of my friends and I are hosting our First Annual Spring Tea, again here at the house. It should be fun and I’ll take lots of pictures.

In knitting news, some specs on the cashmere shawl. The pattern is Alberta by Myrna Stahman. Can I say again how much I love her book? The yarn is China Cashmere DK, the needles Knit Picks Options, size 7. Here is a close up:

I’ll try to get a model shot sometime this week. I’ve also been working on the Forest Path Stole, but have stumbled a bit. I have to say it’s getting a bit monotonous, but that breeds inattention, which breeds – you guessed it – Frogging!! I sat down to work on it one night this week and kept dropping stitches, miscounting, you name it, and ended up frogging about as much as I knitted. But I just started Tier 10, which is exciting because I am nearing the halfway point!

Most of my knitting time this week has been taken up with the new baby’s afghan:

The observant among you may have noticed that this is not the pattern I started with. I just wasn’t feeling the love on the other one. After one full pattern repeat, it became apparent that with the yarn I had, the afghan was going to be very short and wide – all out of proportion. To make it proportionally pleasing I would have had to make it humongously long or rework the pattern. I remembered my favorite Leisure Arts baby book and pulled it out and found this one. This is comfort knitting at its finest. There’s a wonderful rhythm to the pattern – perfect for watching TV or chatting with hubby. And perfect car knitting!

This weekend I’m off for fun and games. I’m going down to my sister’s later today. Tomorrow we will go to a teddy bear show in Puyallup. I am kind of toying with the idea of making teddy bears as a little cottage industry when I retire. I have no idea if it’s feasible or even profitable, but am going to explore the idea. Several years ago I made this little guy:

I’m thinking it would be cute to make personalized bears to commerate special occasions. Baby bears for births, bride and groom bears, bridesmaid bears to give as the bridesmaid’s gift. I certainly don’t expect to make a living out of it – just something to do that’s fun and helps fund my hobbies. My husband has found a great hobby – building model airplaines out of recycled aluminum cans. His business has taken off and he’s having a great time. You can visit his site here.