WiP Wednesday

Hello Friends! I'm still here despite how quiet I've been recently. This relentless New England winter has had me hunkered down enjoying some good books and plenty of knitting. I thought it would be fun to show you what I've been working on. I've finished a couple projects and I'll show those to you later.  These are the projects on my needles right now.

First is the Jimmy Beans Downton Abbey Mystery KAL.  I'm a little stumped right now with this one because I know that I don't have enough yarn to finish it.  Very disappointing. I am getting the gauge that the designer suggested, but I am eating up yarn at an alarming rate.  Actually, I'm not alone on this.  Many, many of the participants are experiencing this same issue.  Enough so that the designer has released a 2nd final clue that uses less yarn.  This is what mine looks like through clue 5 of 7.  Pretty, but.....

this last clue I knit is a diamond lace.  I'm not confident that the diamonds are very defined with the variegated yarn.....

I figure that at this point I have 3 options going forward....
1. Buy more yarn and continue on as is.
2. Rip back 2 clues, which is the end of the garter stitch, go down a needle size and hope that will conserve enough yarn to finish.
3. Rip it all out and start over again with smaller needles.  If I go with this option I will also reverse the colors.  The instructions at the beginning said that "If you want more pink at the bottom, make that color B".  This is what the finished shawl looks like with the colors reversed from what I chose.  Stunning, don't you think?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I just keep going around and around on this...

Next project is this pair of super happy, and groovy, socks!  This is the sock pattern form the Rockin' Sock Club January kit.  I never would have picked out this color, Feeling Groovy, for myself or the pattern, 59th Street Bridge Socks.  The pattern is toe up, which I loathe, and the color more neon than I am typically comfortable with, but these are the happiest socks I have ever knit.  I'm committed to stretching my comfort zone this year and I'm happy about that.  I know that I will smile whenever I look at these socks on my feet :-)

Next project is a sweater I'm working on for myself.  The pattern is Cushing Isle by Amy Herzog and I'm using Indigodragonfly SuperBaa Worsted.

I'm loving both the color of the yarn and the texture of the stitch pattern!

The last project on my needles was a complete impulse project.  It's been particularly cold and windy this winter and I have had more than my fair share of dog walking this winter that just plain makes my face hurt!  Friday I was on Facebook and saw that Cat Bordhi was generously offering her Warm All Winter pattern FREE that day only. It is the most PERFECT solution for my subzero walks! (If you haven't clicked to look at the pattern yet, go now.  I'll wait here.)

I literally downloaded the pattern, read through it, figured out what I needed, then got it the car and drove to Spinning Yarns to buy yarn for it.  Bulky yarn?  I'll knock that bad boy out over the weekend so I'll have it for Monday!  Ha! Not quite, but I'm almost halfway finished :-)  And the way this winter is going, I might still need it in May!

Thanks for stopping by, and PLEASE share your thoughts about my shawl.  I promise I won't be upset if you think I should start it over. (Truth be told, that's probably what I'll do)

Turning the Frown Around

It's Monday, and it's supposed to be a treatment Monday today.  I'm closing in on the end of my treatments, only 2 more to go!  But it is snowing. Again.  A LOT!!! Yesterday my oncologist's office called to let me know that the infusion center would be closed today due to the storm.  It's hard to describe how unreasonably angry that made me.  I know it's unreasonable.  It's weather, it's unpredictable, there's the safety of patients AND staff to consider. I know all of this, but it still really pissed me off. I have a plan, the end is in sight, and this weather event just potentially skewed my plan.

So this morning, since I was home, I decided I should balance the checkbook and pay some bills, because what else should you do when you're in a bad mood?  Absolutely get a close up and intimate look of your finances ;-)

While I was sitting at the counter updating the checkbook, I looked up.  What did I see outside my kitchen window? A CARDINAL!!!!  I have lived in this house 14 years and 10 months and I have never seen a cardinal in my yard before!  In fact I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a cardinal in my area.

I immediately jumped up a took this quick picture with my phone.  I didn't think it would come out so I ran down the hall to get my good camera.  I couldn't believe that this bird was still at my feeder when I got back.  Two pictures later, the battery was dead, but I'm so excited that I got a couple pictures.  I've been smiling about this little bird all day :-)  I hope he comes back!