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The plan today was to go down to City Beach and take some pictures with the new camera to show you how beautiful it is in spring in the Northwest. Should have done it yesterday! It was beautiful, sunny, and in the high 50’s. Today it is overcast, cold and windy. Probably more typical weather for spring here, but not very conductive to picture taking. So instead you get model shots of the Pacific Northwest Shawl:

My husband says I look like Batgirl in the second shot, but I think it shows off the shawl nicely.

I’m still waiting on the needles so I can start the Wonderful Wallaby sweater. I can’t believe that with all the circular needles I have, I don’t have the right sizes. I also can’t believe that my LYS didn’t have them either and I had to mail order. The only yarn store on the island is quite small and only open limited hours. While it has a fairly decent supply of yarn, this was the first time I’ve needed needles (say that three times fast!) and was shocked at the paltry selection. I guess I could have gone off island, but they’ve been doing earthquake inspections of the bridge (for which I am eternally grateful) and traffic was down to one lane. Deception Pass is one of the most beautiful spots in the United States – go to this site to see some pictures. But it can be headache occasionally when you really want to go somewhere.

However, the break in knitting time has given me free time to work on the baby quilt. I realized that if I didn’t want to be panicking at the last moment, I really needed to get cracking on it. If I keep up this same pace I won’t have any trouble finishing it before we leave – only one month from tomorrow! I’m also finishing up my class on Child Abuse. I got the grade back on my term paper – 98 out of 100, plus 5 bonus points for handing it in early! Whew!! I told my husband I don’t know why I agonize so much over these papers, but maybe agonizing is why I get good grades.

And here is a picture of Kirby scoping out Hester. He hasn’t wanted much to do with her, but a few minutes ago I looked over and he was just sitting there, watching her sleep and wagging his tail. I think he figured she was safe if she was sleeping.

Another one bites the dust! The Pacific Northwest Shawl (designer Evelyn A. Clark) before:

And after blocking:

Gratuitous pet photo at no extra charge.

I was surpised at how quickly this project went. I started it on February 28th and finished it last night – just a little over a month! And it wasn’t even the only project I worked on – I went to knitting camp and made a pillow, started and finished two baby surprise jackets, worked on a baby afghan and wrote a term paper. Plus keeping up with other schoolwork and working! No wonder I’m tired!

I can’t say this was the mostest fun project I’ve ever worked on. It certainly wasn’t a mindless knit – I had to keep the chart close by and marked off each row with a highlighter. There wasn’t a lot of instant gratification, either. The designs really didn’t pop out until I blocked it. And I can’t say I liked working on lace with size 6 needles. But I loved the yarn! Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud, two skeins of tide pool. Total cost – $7.98!!! Be still my cheapskate heart. All in all, I really like the finished product and am glad I did it.

Now I really, really need to get busy and finish the baby quilt before I find myself in a panic, stitching until midnight the week before we leave. It’s hard because I’m really in the mood to knit. My next knitting project will probably be the toddler size Wonderful Wallaby. By next week I’m hoping to have some really dynamite pictures for you. I just ordered a new digital camera – a Canon G6 (7.1. megapixels – woohoo). It’s probably more camera than I can handle, but I’d like to learn more about photography and since I got a bonus at work, figured this would be something both Bill and I would use a lot. After all, gotta have a really good camera to take pictures of the grandbaby – three weeks and counting!

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “It’s deja vu all over again.” Once again I find myself working an endless border around a shawl. This time it’s the Pacific Northwest Shawl. Of course, it hasn’t taken me nearly as long as the last one. I think I started this one only about a month or two ago – it’s really knit up fast. But I am really tired of the border and so have put it away for awhile. But I did finish another Baby Surprise sweater. The fun part of this design is that when you finish knitting you have this:

And then you do a little folding and you have this:

What a surprise! Hester, however, was thoroughly bored with the whole thing:

After all, no doggie treats were involved. She and Kirby are getting along much better. He seems to have accepted the fact that she is not going away and is practicing tolerance (most of the time). Several times he has completely forgotten himself and started to play with her, but he quickly comes to his senses and begins to ignore her again. Hester has become so comfortable with her new home that she has even started to get into a little trouble. Although well behaved the first week or so, she has proceeded to completely demolish the wicker basket she was sleeping in and started chewing on anything else she can find at night. Today we bought her a crate and she is quite happy with it. She hopped right in and went right to sleep. So no chewing for her tonight.

A Happy Easter to everyone – we’re having a family get together with younger son and my sister. Wish you were here Ben and Abby! Less than a month to go before the baby – we are all getting very excitied!!

Is it possible that there will be peace in our lifetime?

The lion will lie down with the lamb.

The Arab and Israeli will be friends.

The Serbs and the Croats will make peace.

The Republican and the Democrat . . . . . Nah! Too unlikely.

But we do have this . . . . .

This was not staged! It was entirely voluntary. Hester jumped in first and Kirby followed. We immediately rewarded them with a biscuit and then Kirby realized the enormity of what he had done and jumped out. He then resumed his normal pattern of ignoring her until she got too annoying and then snapping at her. But there is a ray of hope. They spent the night in the same room last night and there was no bloodshed, so we are making progress.

And these pictures are for Marguerite who was bemoaning the lack of color in her landscape:

Before you get too jealous, Marguerite, this early spring comes at the price of a severely low snow pack. They are predicting drought for this summer, we will be paying for all this beautiful color.

On the knitting front, I have made progress on the Pacific Northwest Shawl:

I was thinking even as I took the picture that I was still disappointed that you couldn’t see the pattern developing. But I was surprised when I viewed the picture that you can see it quite well. I feel a little bit like I’m working blind. the only thing that I have to tell me that I’m doing ok is that the stitch count comes out correctly. I am not particularly liking working lace on such big needles (size 6), but I think I will be happy with the outcome. It’s coming along fairly quickly – I’m at the next to the last pattern and then just the border to do! After the Mediterranean Shawl, this border will probably seem very quick! I hope!

Not much knitting content today, but pictures of our new family member:

We picked up Hester on Tuesday. On the 45 minute ride home, she calmly gazed out the window and then laid down and went to sleep. She is truly the sweetest puppy – very calm. If we had to choose one word to describe her, it would “lady”. She has settled right into our routine at home and learned to use the doggy door and so far only one accident inside. Kirby, on the other hand, is NOT pleased, as you can see from the picture. That is definitely a doggy pout. For the first four hours he barked at her every time she moved – gave me a splitting headache! Now he’s decided that since yelling at her has not driven her away, he will try ignoring her. He will not even look her in the eye. Hester, on the other hand, has decided to be more proactive. She’ll go up to him, bump him with her nose and then flop over onto her back to say, “See, I’m not a threat – you can still be top dog. But can we play?” Kirby will have nothing to do with her. She’ll keep persisting until he gets annoyed and chases her away. Then she’ll sit across the room eyballing him for awhile and then start all over again. I think she will wear him down eventually.

And another picture of how sweet and cuddly she is:

I started another Surprise Jacket, this time in a worsted weight. I also worked a bit on the Pacific Northwest Shawl, but no progress pictures that are the least bit exciting. This weekend will be taken up cleaning and studying for the most part, so I don’t expect to have much more to show. But maybe more cute puppy pictures!

I had a great time this weekend at Camp Knitaway. This retreat is held every year on the mainland and this was my second year. Nothing to do but relax, knit and eat! All meals are provided and the rooms are nice – four of us from Whidbey Island shared a small room and bath. This year the teacher was Chris Bylsma and she taught her Crayon Box Jacket technique. I have to admit going with a bit of a closed mind. I was just going to sit and observe – the jacket is pretty funky artsy with lots of novelty yarns –not my usual style. But I have to admit to enjoying the class very much. I did make the sample (will post a picture when it’s completely done) and liked it so much that I ordered the pattern for her poncho. Just goes to show it’s never too late to learn a new trick or two. I loved coming in from the outside and seeing the tables crowded with yarn – so colorful!

During get acquainted time one elderly lady introduced herself and said that she had been knitting for over 50 years and back in the 80’s went to a knit camp in Wisconsin. She didn’t know if we had heard of this woman – Elizabeth Zimmerman! A collective gasp went up from the crowd. I have actually taken a class from her daughter, Meg Swansen (a little shameless name-dropping here). In fact, while we’re name dropping, for living in a remote corner of the Pacific Northwest, I’ve been able to rub shoulders with a lot of famous knitters without leaving the island – Lily Chin, Eugene Bueghler, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Nancy Bush to name a few. The ironic thing is that as knitting has grown in popularity, the big retreats on the island have died out.

Part of the fun this weekend was a gift exchange and door prizes. I got this:

A lovely skein of Mountain Colors wool for a pair of socks (plus pattern) and this gorgeous!!! pink and blue lace yarn. Although the gift exchange was random, the lady who brought this said she thought of me when she brought it. She was right on target- both the color and medium. Also included was a pattern by Mary McCall for a shawl based on EZ’s Pi are round shawl. I think I will use it with this yarn, but with some adaptations. The pattern calls for size 9 needles and the finished product is 9 feet across (yikes!!). I know the theory is that if you use larger needles with lace you get a lacier effect, but I just don’t like the process with larger needles. So I will use about a size 3 or 4 and get a more manageable project.

And, during our free knitting time I began and finished this:

A baby surprise jacket for Izzy. I can’t believe I’ve been knitting for so long and been such an Elizabeth Zimmerman fan but have never knit one of these. What a fun knit! And it is indeed a surprise when you finish knitting this odd shaped piece and it folds nicely into a little jacket. I think I will try it next on worsted weight. This one will have little lady bug buttons if I can find them.

One thing I’ve discovered about blogging is that you make rash comments and then feel you have to explain when you don’t follow through. Of course, I really doubt that anyone out there in the blogging world (all twelve of my readers!) are actually going to hold me to anything. The first of the year I mentioned that one of my goals for the year was to do more charity knitting and that I wanted to do at least one pair of socks a month for CIC. Well, so far I have finished one whole sock. No, not one pair, one sock! Of course, my FIL’s death in January put me behind on everything, but that’s not really the excuse. I have come to the realization that I’m just not that fond of knitting socks. It’s not the dreaded “second sock syndrome”, it’s actually the “first sock syndrome”. I don’t mind making a pair occasionally, especially those designed by Marguerite, but as a regular past time, I’ve come to the decision it’s just not my cup of tea. SO – I am redirecting my charity knitting to the Guidepost Knit for Kids Project. We’ll give this a try (“we” being the royal “we”, of course). This will make for some mindless car knitting, although car knitting for me doesn’t necessarily have to be mindless – a great deal of the Mediterranean Shawl was knitted in the car. But the first car show of the season was this weekend and I got a lot done on the trip and during the endless sitting around.

I’ve also begun the Pacific Northwest Shawl:

The Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud is wonderful to work with. I’m finding the pattern fairly easy so far, although I have to keep the chart fairly close at hand. The only thing that I’m concerned about is that the design is not looking very clear at this point. It’s hard to tell because very quickly the project gets scrunched up on the needle and will look completely different once it’s stretched out. But so far the patterns don’t look as obvious as in the pattern picture. I think it’s because of the garter, rather than stockinette stitch, but am not sure. All said, I think I will keep plugging along and let the chips fall where they may. So far it’s been a relatively quick knit, but it’s getting exponentially larger as I go (it’s knitted from the neck down), so will start to slow down considerably.

And, of course, Rogue pictures:

I finished putting on the attached I-cord border. This is the first I’ve done and I’m very pleased with it. And I’m especially pleased with the sewn cast-off – see how pretty?

Thanks to Eilene for pointing me in the right direction – EZ, who else?

And, only two weeks to go now before we get our new little puppy. She was spayed yesterday and came through with flying colors. Ten days of recovery and she will be ours. Kirby is oblivious to how his little life is going to change! I think it might be a shock at first, but he spent the first 9 years of his life with another dog and I think (hope) will adjust quickly.

What a great weekend! My incentive for finishing my Sociology class was to treat myself to a trip to Seattle and The Acorn Street Yarn Shop . My friend was supposed to go with me, but she bailed at the last minute, so I invited my sister. She is not a knitter, but she is so patient about joining me on these outings. Of course, she is often the recipient of my labors, so maybe she has an ulterior motive? But she is definitely knitworthy and one of the few people that I knit for. We had a great day poking around University Village and then the yarn shop. I treated myself to a great book on Orenburg lace shawls and this lovely blush pink lace yarn:

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I’m afraid the picture doesn’t do it justice. So far I’ve changed my mind about three times on what I want to do with it. First a scarf, then a stole, then a shawl and back again. so I think I may let it percolate a bit while I decide what to do. And also because I received this:

Eight skeins of Knit Picks new Alpaca Cloud. I am very impressed with this yarn so far. It is soft and lovely and the colors are heathery and beautiful. And the price can’t be beat. The whole lot was about $30 with free shipping! At that price I need to go back and look again. Wouldn’t it be fun to have one of every color? My first project will be with the “Tide Pool” – the darker teal. I’ll be making the Pacific Northwest Shawl from Fiber Trends.

And Rogue hasn’t been forgotten. Our knitting group meets this Wednesday and the subject is knitted on I-cord edgings. I’m going to take Rogue with me to get some advice. With any luck I can start picking up around the edge and have something rather mindless to work on this Saturday. It’s the first car show of the season, which means lots of sitting around. And, of course, I really need to get studying. I got so spoiled last week with most of the week off. That meant I could study during the day and knit at night. I got my new study plan from my advisor and she confirmed that by the end of the semester I will be a senior. I thought the day would never come – the light at the end of the tunnel!

I was very remiss in my last post in not crediting the designer of the Mediterranean Shawl. The shawl was designed by Maureen Egan Emlet and is featured in A Gathering of Shawls (see sidebar). In restrospect this was a very challenging knit and not for the fainthearted. But would I do it again? You betcha!

And I can’t resist introducing you to the newest member of our family. Here’s Hester:

We had been considering getting a puppy and were investigating the King Charles Spaniel. Unfortunately, we found ourselves priced out of the market. They were so expensive and hard to find. After perusing the AKC site, we decided to investigate the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and really liked what we found. We did give some consideration to getting a “pound puppy”, but in our area it is very rare to find a small dog – they are all lab mixes. We found a very reputable breeder right here on the island. She has been breeding and showing for almost 30 years and has quite a few champions. She has even shown at Westminster (impressed me!). She was very excited about Hester and felt that she had great championship potential. But just before embarking on the dog show circuit, Hester failed her OFA hip exam – she has displaysia in one hip and so cannot be bred or shown. Kathi said she cried for two days. She really considered keeping her as a pet, but they are very committed to the show dogs (they have 10 or 12), so they are placing her with a good home. And because they cannot guarantee that there might not be some problems later on with the hip, they are only charging for the cost of the spay.

So, we hope Hester will come to live with us in about a month, after she is spayed. We passed preliminary approval yesterday and Kathi said barring any unexpected circumstances, she is ours! The owner may want to come out and inspect our house, but she will like what she finds. Hester has the sweetest disposition. She crawls up in you lap and looks at you with adoring eyes as if you are the most special person in the world. And this only five minutes after meeting her. Corgis do SHED like crazy, but generally only twice a year. Then you have to brush every day, but we’re used to that with the Lhasa Apso. We told Kirby he was getting a little sister and he seemed excited, but that may have been all the great smells on us when we got back home.

And here is a picture of Bill and me with a lap full of Corgis. Actually, a couple more jumped down just before the picture was taken.

On the knitting front, I am up to the armhole on the second sleeve of Rogue! That should be done today. I didn’t start on the I-cord trim yet. I wanted to consult with a friend since I’ve never done it before. I cannot believe what a quick knit this has been! But that may have been because I worked on this exclusively – something I don’t normally do. No pictures because I’ve been having way too much fun taking pictures of little dogs!

These are for Marguerite.

I wore my shawl to church today and am so very happy with it! I got several compliments on the shawl itself, but the compliments that pleased me most were “My, don’t you look pretty today”. Don’t you think that’s the ultimate test of any wardrobe item – that it makes you look and feel good instead of drawing attention to itself?