Fawkes Takes Flight

Fawkes has flown off my needles. I snuck in the foot and toe although this is my all shawl week of knitting. I only have one more 12 row repeat before I start the border on my shawl so I went ahead and finished off the Fawkes socks. I might cheat again tonight and finish off the I Love Gansey socks; after I knit the last 12 pattern rows and before I start the border of the shawl. Picking up stitches evenly is not one of my strongest skills, and I have to pick up stitches along two sides of the shawl. I should probably put that off until Saturday when I can work in full daylight. Yep folks, it's nearly dark when I get home these evenings. :-{

I bought someone's 50th birthday present today :D I also saw a post in the forum about the 50% off (60% with my membership) sale at Barnes & Noble. I bought some of the books I have been waiting for - all of them but one were under $13.00, and they threw in free expedited shipping. The sale is mostly Vogue books, which is what I had on my wish list. There was also news on the forum that the Ravelry t-shirts are available for pre-order. I bought one of each design and bought the buttons. I already have two totes from Zazzle so I am pretty much set with the Ravelry Swag. I bought a little yarn, 1 skein from Purl Soho and 1 skein from Knit Picks. I didn't have any DK weight for the Six Sox KAL October sock. I also came across the perfect aqua lace weight yarn for my BF Carolyn's shawl. She wants socks and a turquoise shawl for her birthday and Christmas - which fall 12 days apart.

My swap pal got her back to school Hogwart's Sock Swap package, yay. I was a little worried. But she e-mailed me that she received her box, and all is right with the world. I must get back to her socks next week when I get home from the conference. So far the pattern I wrote has been accurate, the charts are error free. I just need to dedicate a little knitting time to them. I am using a fine yarn and size 1 needles which is really slow for me. I am so used to size 3s.

Chilly Dilly, it's getting cold around the SF Bay. I am thinking now would be a good time to get to work on another afghan. I love my granny square afghans. They go so quickly and they are dead useful. Even the dog has an afghan. But I will probably start the Log Cabin pattern I have copies of all over my desk. I was printing every variation I could find, especially the free patterns. The log cabin theme has been featured in several magazines and a few books. I will have to narrow down my color selection. I have so much yarn - hush, no comments from the peanut gallery.

I belonged to one of those crocheted squares club. Each month you sent each person in the group a square you designed. I have been joining the squares off and on over time, with black yarn between squares to balance the size. That is another afghan I would like to finish. It is about half completed and would be really warm and cuddly this winter. I will pop over to Ravelry and add those to my queue and wip. Out of sight out mind, that is why they have not been finished yet. I need to park them in my bedroom where I can see them, then I will be urged to finish them and get them out of the way! Ravelry is a great reminder, once I post a picture of a wip, I want to see it move to the finished projects section.

All things in time . . .