Mr. Stegs (and some totally unnecessary yarn acquisitions)

Alright. I wrote a wonderful post that was supposed to go here that has since been lost in the black hole that is the interface between my laptop, FireFox, picasa and blogger. So here we go again.

My Knitpicks order arrived! I am now the proud owner of two hanks of "shimmer" in happy dance, which is a mix of red, pink and yellow, and one hank of alpaca cloud in tidewater. Both of these hanks are darker colors than I thought they would be, and I really didn't expect that much red in the shimmer, but I knew that I was taking that chance when I ordered them without getting a color card first. But I really like the colors, nonetheless. And I love the yarn! It is so amazingly buttery soft. It's wonderful.

Since I have now received the yarn I have decided three things: I'm going to order from Knitpicks a lot more, I'm going to spring for the faster shipping option occasionally (waiting for this order nearly killed me) and I did some research on the Flower Basket Shawl. Since everyone in blog land seems to have already made this shawl (pattern by Evelyn A. Clark and available from interweave knits as well as several other sources) I figured that I would be able to find the answers to a couple of questions. Specifically, I wanted to know what happened when people used one strand of yarn instead of holding two together throughout as the pattern instructs. I really don't want to hold two strands together because I think this is a recipe for treating both loops as single stitches instead of one (and for accidentally shoving the point of my needle through the yarn, splitting it.) Even though I spent a couple of hours researching this yesterday, I didn't really find the answers to my question, although some people out there have made the pattern using one strand of yarn. So, I've decided to forge ahead and make several swatches before starting: one holding two strands together and using the recommended needle size, one using one strand of yarn and the recommended needle, and one using one strand of yarn and a needle size a few sizes smaller than recommended. I will make one pattern motif with each, pin, and decide which I like best. If I don't like any of them I will do something different.

However, before I even start swatching for the shawl I first have to finish a few other projects. As you can see above I have started Mr. Stegs (free pattern from X-Treme Knitting) for my nephew, who turns three next week. I have decided that what he really needs is a stuffed dinosaur made from a non-machine washable wool/mohair blend (Lamb's Pride left over from Manly.) Yes, I like his mother and No, she may not like me very much after this gift. But what the hey?

I'm still working on my Branching Out, and still planning on making several pairs of baby socks, as well as a skinny chenille scarf for my six year old niece, Anna.

Stephen and I are home this weekend, I have recently learned that Patrick F. McManus (comedic writer) lives in Spokane, and my brother in law and his wife (parents of my nephew and Anna) have just bought a house in Atlanta. I'm going to miss them.