tsk, tsk, tsk!!

look at the date - friday, july 13 and i am finally getting to my june post!! my, oh my, i am tardy! please accept my apologies!


and, you might ask, why is this? well, in all honesty, it was the sock's fault!! they just didn't reach completion until july 11th after missing several self-imposed deadlines and a number of rounds of procrastination!  plus, i also snuck in a couple of other projects along with the black sheep gathering in eugene so i can't totally lay the blame on them. actually i think i am probably suffering from a tad bit of burnout with this pattern and type of sock as this is the fourth pair this year!! so, i'll be changing things up next month and making a pair for me rather than for the gift box.

once again, the pattern is wendy johnson's toe-up, gusset heel. this pair have ribbing all the way from the toe to the top. the yarn is another self striping number by on line yarn - 75% superwash wool and 25% polyamid, whatever that is!

fortunately for you, you can't see my studio because you would see that i am up to my eyeballs in yarn and patterns and fiber and fabric and lots of other crap but i guess that is what it is like for creative people, or so they say - sometimes i have visions of  'the hoarders' tv program invading my mind but i try to quickly banish that thought for my own sanity's sake! i had planned on knitting my june shawl with any number of patterns i already possess when this little number popped up in my email box from knitcircus.

the shawlette pattern is 'balm to the soul' by jaala spiro. it called for a dk or worsted weight yarn and required 250 yards so i thought i had it made in the shade with the skein of malabrigo rios (worsted weight) in the colorway 'piedras' i had in my stash. everything went swimmingly until i ran out of yarn in the middle of the final lace chart - argh! i was forced to make a trip to a lys (it was really tough!) to score another skein. the skein was the same color way but it had more blue and green than my original skein but what's a gal to do? i had to punt. since i now had plenty of yarn, i added another go round of the lace chart which the dk version called for and ended up with a larger shawl which was fine by me.

i am very pleased with the results considering my dilemma but the darker colors seem to be fine at the lower edge and it works. the sweetest part was how quickly this knit up - this truly was a weekend knit - start to finish.

here is the skirt that i mentioned i was knitting last month. it has a drawstring waist and an eight inch border of razor lace. the yarn is pima silk in the toffee colorway from frog tree yarns that has been hanging in my stash for a number of years - glad i could use it up!

i also completed this sweater - 'adrift' by carol feller, aka stolenstitches.com. it was exactly the perfect late spring, early summer wrap i was looking for - top down with fronts that drape oh, so nicely, knit in one piece in stockinette stitch. it is knit from yarn that i repurposed from a sweater i picked up at goodwill - light and airy, perfect for those not too hot days that frequent our weather patterns in the great northwest!


off the needles is another lightweight summer sweater that i haven't photographed yet but it was perfect for an evening at our family reunion in early july.


as mentioned earlier, i did attend the black sheep gathering in eugene in late june and took a class in mawatas. what is a mawata? i'll tell you all about it in my next post!! gotta go now as i have yarn to spin - the tour de fleece is in full swing right now and i've got to get my daily spin in!! ta,ta!