Two more finished objects to show off to the world.

The first is my GA shawl, which I actually finished back in June, but didn't get a picture of until today. I decided that I wanted to make a prayer shawl as part of my preparation for GA. It had to be red, the color associated with the Holy Spirit; I think because of that association wearing red makes me feel confident and empowered. I remembered that I had this red mohair, which I knew would make a very light and airy shawl. And I found the perfect pattern - one that makes up in sections of easy repeats that allow you to adjust the size to the amount of yarn you have and the size shawl you want. I wanted a shawl big enough to wrap up in on an airplane, and the fact that this would be lightweight meant that it would easily fit into a travel bag.

I didn't get the shawl finished before GA started it, but I did finish it before GA ended. In fact I was knitting furiously through the Friday sessions so I would go home with it finished. I've traveled with it a few times since then, and it very nicely fills the need for a wrap for most occasions. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it didn't even really need blocking. I think this is a personal favorite.


This pair of socks is appropriately named Handsome Devils. The designer is one of my favorites, Terry Liann, and I joined a Yahoo group just so I could have access to this pattern. But then when I actually got down to the making, I hit a wall. I didn't have any yarns in my stash that would work together, and I couldn't make up my mind what colors I wanted. Then someone in the group made them in red, white, and blue, and I fell in love. I tracked down her yarn (who knew a true navy would be hard to find in cotton yarn), and started in on the socks. Even though I was translating the pattern to work with 2 circular needles, it was an easy knit, and really fun.

Since I finished them I've had a chance to wear them once. They are as much fun to wear as they were to knit. Finding shoes that were big enough to accommodate them was a bit of a challenge, but where there's a will there's a way. I love the fact that even though I can't find pretty shoes to fit my clodhopper feet I can have fun with socks.

While I had the camera handy I had to get pictures of the kids. Callie went through a spell this week of napping on the laptop. It wasn't ideal; she fell off at least twice. But I found it amusing, so I took the picture.

And then there's Bart. We know about Bart and yarn, especially orange yarn. I want to know how he knows that the tote bag he's curled up on contains a sock knitted from orange yarn. Does it give off vibes that he can pick up? Does he have x-ray vision? Or did he just guess lucky?

This weekend is a mini quilting retreat. I have a couple of projects that I can make progress on with a couple of hours spent, so I think I will try to do that, even though I really should be working on a project proposal. I'm ready to sew the sunflowers together, and free up my design wall for another project. And I got the fabric to make the covered buttons to "fix" the Laurel Burch quilt, so I should be able to manage that with an hour or so of work. If you see the pictures posted tomorrow you'll know I got it done.