Pi shawl progress and other updates

I thought I'd better update you on a project I have yet to unveil on my blog. This is the Orkney Pi designed by Liz Lovick for the EZ as Pi yahoogroup, and which is now available for purchase. Check out the photos on Ravelry~~it's a gorgeous piece of lace. I'm using Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in autumn and Shadow in the now discontinued redwood forest held together to knit this beauty. The color at left is pretty close to the actual shade. I'm using Knit Picks Options in size 3 and have just switched to a 60" cable. At this point in the pattern, I am 2/3 of the way through my second cake of yarn~~I have three more waiting. My goal with this is to make a sofa sized throw to snuggle under in the winter. The inspiration behind me picking up a shawl of this magnitude was, of course, Jared Flood's gorgeous pi shawl. I had hoped to finish this one in time for the county fair this past weekend, but obviously, I didn't make it. If all goes well, I will enter it in the state fair in September.

After looking through my Ravelry notebook, I see that there are a couple of projects there that I haven't posted about here. The first is a stranded stocking designed by Meg Swansen. I started this back in the winter sometime at SnB one night. It took me three hours to knit one row. Never have I twisted a join so many times. This one is on hold as I am unsure what I want to personalize it with~~likely just the year.

The second is a pair of socks for Mr Fix-it. He requested another pair, but I was short on yarn, so he's getting one with contrast toes and heels. This has been languishing since my bout with hand trouble. I found the yarn hurt my hands.

I also have another Hemlock Ring Blanket on the needles~~for this one I'm using EcoWool as called for in the adaptation by Jared. It's getting pretty big, so I should probably switch to 60" cables soon. It's too heavy to knit on during the summer. Come September, I'll fit it back into the rotation at SnB on Thursday nights.

Today I purchased some yarn for the February Lady Sweater. After finishing the baby sized version I began to pine for one for myself. Lo and behold, not even a week later one pops up on Ravelry! I love Ravelry. I had planned on using some Classic Elite Skye Tweed for my sweater since the statistics for the yarn would appear to be a perfect sub for the yarn used in the original, but that was not to be. I swatched and got gauge on the first try. However, the yarn just seems too heavy~~not drapey enough for the pretty little lacy pattern. So, I'll save the Skye Tweed for a nice tweedy sweater for using as outwear, and use the Berroco Ultra Alpaca I ordered from WEBS today. My choice was the oceanic mix~~a lovely shade of teal blue.

I imagine I'll be casting on another pair of socks today since I need a project I can work on while chatting and laughing with the ladies at knitting night tonight (although now it looks like I won't be able to go!!! Wah!). Lace just won't cut it, and the yarn for the sweater isn't here yet, so socks it is. Just can't decide if I want to give the new Noro Kureyon sock yarn I bought a try.......or maybe some Trekking........or another pair from the Felici. Ah, sock love is again in the air!