Some new things to show off this week. First, I finished part 2 of the mystic light KAL with about 12 hours to spare before the new part came out.



I'm really happy with the way this is turning out. The lace pattern is evident, but it's not too open in the plain parts. The cables on the sides and down the middle are not as obvious as they might be in another yarn, but to me it's like the small details in a quilt that has visual impact at a distance and then smaller delights that you only notice when you're up close. I'm really looking forward to having this shawl with me when I travel to Canada this summer; it will be just what I need for cool evenings.

I've recently reorganized my stash, so as to get all the sock yarn together, all the baby sweater yarn, and so on. Each category now has a designated space, and overflow is being temporarily stored in emptied kitty litter pails in the closet (I knew I was saving these for a reason). I still ended up with a pile of acrylic worsted left over, which is just going to live on top of the bed until I either have guests or its gone. In the interests of making the second possibility happen, I've started knitting caps for the Ships Project. I've sort of dragged my feet about knitting for troops; I guess I was hoping the need would go away. Anyway, a good bit of this pile is brown or other "manly" colors. I had thought about laprobes for the nursing home, but right now smaller projects fit into my life better, so caps it is. I finished the first of these this week - a lovely cabled pattern I found in the Knitting Pattern-A-Day calendar for this year.



And then there's Bart. He hasn't changed a bit. Last week I had to throw away a skein of sock yarn and a partially knitted sock because he grabbed it off the bar and rewound it all over the living room. When I tried to rewind it I had so many snarls and tangles I finally decided that the sock wasn't far enough along to care a lot about, and the yarn was cheap acrylic, and chucked the whole thing in the trash. Sunday I came home to find a "cat's cradle" he had made from a ball of yarn I had left sitting on my desk for days. Evidently I needed some bending and stretching exercise. Yesterday I was winding up the end of a skein and decided to just make his day by giving him the last bit that was soiled anyway. He is so proud of himself for his "catch."



OTN right now, besides the Mystic Light shawl, is another log cabin baby blanket, this one in pastel shades. There's a seafoam scarf that is an experiment to see if I like the pattern well enough to make a shawl with it; the answer is yes, but I'll have to be careful of the width and be sure I have a needle long enough to handle all the yarn overs. I also bought some ribbon yarn to see how that worked up in this pattern. Mystic Waters is languishing for the moment, as I struggle to keep up with Mystic Light. There's another cap. Other ideas are percolating. I want to try the 2 socks on 2 circs process. I am looking at an aran afghan pattern that is to die for, except I don't want another large project right now. I've gotten some cotton yarns that are new to me to try out on things like baby sweaters and wash cloths.

Today I am cleaning out my clothes closet as I make the transition from winter to spring clothing. I've gotten all the stuff out - now it's time to sort and put things back. It's enough to make me envy the Amish - almost.