Pitiful progress.

I last posted progress on Lady Eleanor back in April, before being distracted by home renovations, vacations, lovely shrugs, etc. A refresher:



I've knit on it a bit here and there over the past few months, but when I compared the new progress shot with the old, I realized just how little I'd actually gotten accomplished:



Huh. I guess I will buckle down and attempt to finish this thing so that I can wear it when autumn rolls around.

Lady E and I will be there for the first ever first Wednesday meeting of the Hurricane Knitters this week. If you're in the Pittsburgh area and would like to join us for knitting, crocheting, conversation and 40 guy spotting, we will be in the Waterworks Barnes & Noble cafe from 7-10 p.m. Hope to see some new faces there!

No knitting here.

Instead of knitting, I made other stuff today.

I've had the itch to make myself another beaded necklace, so on Saturday, I made a trip to Crystal Bead Bazaar in Lawrenceville. I've always kind of wanted a turquoise necklace, but since turquoise can be pretty pricey, could never justify buying one. After seeing a couple of necklaces that I liked recently, I decided to take the plunge and make my own. The wonderful Pam at Crystal Bead Bazaar helped me to select some decent and reasonably-priced turquoise, some silk beading cord and a lovely sterling sliver box clasp, and even gave me a little refresher lesson on pearl knotting. After a couple of hours' work today, I had a finished necklace:





I am not the most even knotter, but I am still very happy with the necklace and know I'll enjoy wearing it for years to come. Thanks, Pam!

After watching my favorite Food Network program yesterday, I also decided to do a little baking today:



Two pounds of chocolate plus one pound of butter equals some very yummy brownies. My goodness, I just love that woman's recipes.

Before devouring the brownies for dessert, I made a chicken and caramelized onion pizza for dinner:



What a delicious day!

Voilà!

Pattern: Dream in Color Shrug
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy, "deep sea flower" colorway, 2 skeins
Mods: My finished shrug was about 6 inches longer than the pattern called for (some of that length is probably due to the fact that I did not block it before seaming), so I seamed the arms about 3 inches further than the pattern called for, trying it on as I went.

I haven't actually finished anything in a long time (or been in the mood to knit), so it felt really good to complete this shrug. It was a very easy knit once I got more comfortable with the lace. Who knows, maybe a lace shawl is in my future, after all! The yarn is fantastic, and I am definitely planning to check out the fingering weight version for some socks.

Fresh off my finishing high, I picked up the traveling sock again and actually knit at lunch for the first time in a long time:



This Wednesday, the sock and I will travel to Barnes & Noble at the Waterworks (7-10 p.m.) for some quality knitting time with 40 guy. Jenn made us an excellent button so that we could all represent on our blogs:



Won't you join us?

Not quite good with the lace yet, but getting there.

Thank you to Jenn and Carrie for suggesting the use of a lifeline while working the lace portion of the Dream in Color shrug. Brazenly (or stupidly), I did not bother to put in a lifeline as I braved the rest of the lace. Luckily for me, I did finally get the hang of it, and this is the first time I've ever been able to finish patterned lace knitting without some sort of major cock-up that necessitated my ripping out the entire thing and restarting seven or eight times.



I have about 1-2 inches of ribbing left to go on the second cuff, then I just need to seam the sleeves and pick up and knit the stitches around the body. Hopefully I have enough yarn to finish the job!

I'm not so good with the lace.

I don't know what it is, but I am lace-impaired. I managed to finish two repeats of the pattern on the Dream in Color shrug, but boy, oh boy, it was slow going:


Many rows were tinked and re-knit to get to this point.

Only seven more repeats to go!

I know that I am late to the Flickr game, but I created an account to save some of my photographic experimentations. We took the Lensbaby out for a spin this Saturday. I am still learning how to use it, and it takes me dozens of shots to get just one keeper. I am looking forward to lots more practice time, and hopefully I will get better at using it than I've proven to be at lace knitting!