Winners and an Update in Words Only

Happy Monday,

Thank you everyone for participating in the giveaway!  I picked the winners this morning and have notified them by Ravelry message.  Congratulations to Clobelle, PurlingPenny, Renee W, and Kepanie!!  This was great fun, we will have to do it again!

I thought I'd do a few updates today, and since I don't have any photos to share right now, this will all be in words only.  Sorry about that.  First up, I finished my Whippoorwill shawl.  I still need to block it, but the knitting is done.  I've been putting it off because I'm a little intimated about getting the edging to lay correctly.  I've enlisted Mom to help me with that.  I am really very happy with it from what I can tell pre-blocking though.  I also crocheted a beautiful wrap over the weekend using Knit Picks Aloft.  I was so pleased with both the stitch pattern and the yarn.  I think the two were the perfect combination.  After having this turn out so well I wanted to crochet more lace, so I started another shawl using Patons Lace in a pretty pink/brown combo.  It's coming along well although I have to think about the patterning a little more than I did with the Aloft wrap.  I've also started a Stripe Study shawl for my Mom today.  I'm using a light purple and a dark blue that Mom picked out.  I have to say they look great together.  I'll try to snap a picture tomorrow.  We were having lovely weather today, hot and sunny, but then an unexpected summer thunderstorm popped up and it's been pouring rain and quite dark out - not ideal picture taking weather.

I also started my Beret for Emma Woodhouse that's part of the kit and knit-along from the Knitting with Jane Ravelry Group.  I chose to do mine in Highbury, which is this gorgeous deep rich blue.  I thought it would look nice with my blonde hair.  I've done a repeat and a half so far of the lace and I'm thrilled with it.  The yarn is so bouncy and a treat to knit.  I bought the other two colours as well, Hartfield - a beautiful medium pink, and The Seaside - a stunning yellow.  I'm not sure what projects I'm going to make with them yet, but I'm already looking forward to working with the yarn.  These colours were specifically dyed for the Knitting with Jane kits but the base yarn is Annie Sock and you can order that from the Annie & Co. Shop in some other very luscious colours.  I have the Robin's Egg in the Shalom sock, and it's so pretty, I know it would be amazing in this base as well.  Everything this company does is top notch, I have been so pleased with all the things I've ordered from them.

In more Jane Austen-type news, we are doing a read-along and optional knit-along over on the Itty-Bitty Knits Group.  We are reading Emma right now and having a good time discussing the book and the movies as well as our projects.  The knit-along pattern is the Happily Ever After Mitts.  I'm not taking part in the knit-along this time because I've got a lot of other things on the go right now, but I've knit these mitts before and they are a great pattern, I highly recommend it.  I'm thinking about trying to read through some of Jane Austen's books over the summer, so you'll be sure to hear more about it and see some Jane-type projects pop up.  I've got my eye on a few from both issues of Jane Austen Knits magazine....

In family news, we celebrated my sister's birthday over the weekend.  Happy Birthday sis!!  It was fun to get a chance to visit with her and my brother-in-law since we have all been busy lately and don't get to see each other as much as we'd like.  Also, Bingley is doing very well fitting in and has been getting along with the other animals.  He had a run-in with Cassie and ended up beating her up a bit.  However, I do have to say that she had it coming since she ate all his food, twice in one afternoon.  Now that that's over with, they seem to be getting along pretty well.  I think he's still trying to figure out his place in the family, but everything is getting better each day.  I'm so happy to report that because he has won over my heart and I hope to have him with us forever.

Two more things to share and then I will end this rather long post.  One is I've joined the Itty-Bitty Knits Ravelympics team and I'm so excited about participating!  I haven't picked out my projects yet but I've been thinking about doing the Color Affection Shawl and then committing to knitting a hexipuff a day for my Bee Keeper's Quilt (which I have yet to start, maybe this week).  How does that sound?  Any other suggestions or ideas??  The second thing is I've also joined the Itty-Bitty's Tour de Fleece group and I'm planning on sewing for 30 minutes each day of the tour.  I've been wanting to get myself back to sewing and I thought this would give me the perfect motivation and focus that I need.  Now all I have to do is clean out my studio in the basement so I can keep my machine all set up....I must mention that I'm not big on cleaning or putting things away, which is how the room got to be the disaster that it is right now.  I'm really going to make an effort to keep it clean once I get it that way this time though, if it's possible, I think the mess has scared me into being a put-away-er.

Anyways, that's all for today, rather long-winded but thanks for sticking with me.  I should be back tomorrow with a hexagon update.  In the meantime I'm off to work a few stripes on Mom's shawl,
xoxo