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Keeping Busy

My March in the desert is going well; beautiful weather and lots of knitting time.  I still haven't gotten over the feeling that I have to be outside in the sunshine all the time.  Unlike at home in Seattle, there will probably be more sunshine tomorrow if I miss a bit of it today!  In fact, here my goal is to avoid exposing my pale skin to too much sun.  Sunscreen, sunscreen!

My knitting is coming along nicely.  I finished the shawl that I wanted to wear to the wedding and it worked out very nicely.  It came out big but it wraps around nicely and it's very pretty.  The color is hard to capture (even though I took the photography class and learned a lot, one of the things I learned is that my camera won't do all the things that I might want it to. New camera?  Someday...)  Anyway, the deep purple of this shawl is gorgeous and I wish i could get a true representation of it.



I also made another Herbivore shawl/scarf out of Handmaiden Casbah yarn.  This color is also breathtaking in person (I think) and hard to show in a photo.  It has deep blues and greens and I think it's gorgeous.  I made this shawl for my hairdresser, Tina, who's battling cancer.  She complimented me on my first Herbivore recently, so I said I'd make her one.  It's a fast and entertaining knit and a very useful scarf.  I love mine.




I finished a handspun sock and now need to make another.  The truth is, I already made two, but decided the first one is a little too tight, so I'm going to make it again.  I guess that's a way to never run out of knitting projects - just mess things up so you can do them again!

I also picked up a couple of in-progress projects that I left here.  If I finish the Pi shawl successfully this time, maybe I'll enter it in the fair this coming year.  This was the Wollmeise laceweight that I made into 95% of a shawl, messed up the last bit, and ripped the whole thing out.  I smartly documented my place in the pattern when I left off working on the second version, so I was able to pick up and continue.  Hopefully this one will have a more successful end result.







I picked up my sweater again and am making progress.  This is the one where I fear my yarn may run out, but I've checked with the MIL and she said I can repossess a scarf I made her from the same yarn if I need extra.  I told her I'd make her another one in exchange; she must not like this one much if she's willing to sacrifice it, so maybe I'll do better next time!


And while I was outside trying to get true colors for my knitting, I got a couple of good shots of the hummingbirds that frequent our feeders.  We have more fun watching them chase each other, chattering angrily.  Occasionally more than one will light on a feeder and share it but it's rare.  I think we've seen as many as four perched at one time, but usually it's one at a time.  They're fascinating.





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