FO!

I have been knitting -- a lot, in fact. I am not a fast knitter. Sometime in September, I decided that I wanted to make my friend and mentor Ellen something hand-knit for her 70th birthday. I knew I would see her at a conference in October. She lives in Texas, and doesn't really need hand-knits, so I decided a small shawl would be good. I decided on Ishbel, made from a skein of the Malabrigo Sock yarn that I seem to be collecting. She can wear it under her winter jacket without adding too much bulk.

I cast on and got about half way through the plain stockinette section, but then put it aside to finish my February Lady Sweater, because I wanted to be able to wear it at my October conferences - one of which began on October 1! As you know, I finished the sweater on September 27. I picked Ishbel up, knowing I had about 2 weeks to finish it. However, looking at the stockinette, I was unhappy and felt like my stitch count was off, so I frogged the whole thing!

Off I went to my first conference, where I knitted a lot (and also bought lots of yarn, including more Malabrigo Sock yarn!). I got back home on the 7th and finished knitting on the 12th. It would have been nice if we had had a three day weekend like some people, but I had to go to work!

The yarn in Malabrigo Sock Yarn in the Solis colorway.

I have to say that this is not my best knitting. I probably should have gone down a needle size and made the large version (I made the "small stockinette/large knit" version). The stockinette part definitely looks too loose and the yarnovers are too big. There's also a wonky area at the edge, over the span of a couple rows. It's only noticeable when it's stretched out blocking, and only I know it's there -- well, y'all do now, too -- but it's disappointing.

The wonkiness is on the left edge, out of the picture!

But - I'm giving it to Ellen anyway. Crunched up in the neckline of her jacket, it will be very pretty!

Since I'm sure you're also waiting for a cat update, too, I need to tell you that Harley and Dolly are suddenly best of friends! They cuddle up on the bed and lick each others' ears. Very sweet, and it only took a year and a half! I'll try to get a picture of it for you.

I did, though, get a picture of Vinnie cuddling with my mom, who visited over the weekend.

It was much easier to knit with Vinnie on Mom's lap and not mine!

Saturday morning, Mom and I were up bright and early to eat breakfast at the Hamburg Inn (biscuits and gravy - yum!) before the Homecoming crowd got there. At about 8:45 we heard a murmur through the restaurant: "snow! SNOW! SNOW!" Yes, on October 10, it was snowing! And not just a few random flakes, but genuine flurries that lasted a couple hours, and even stuck to the still-green grass and leaves! Luckily it all melted practically as soon as it stopped snowing, but it's been cold - with highs in the low 40s, 20 degrees below normal - all week. I'm so not ready for winter; I'm glad it's supposed to warm up again!

I tried to take a picture of the snow.
Here you can almost see it on Home Ec Workshop's window shade.