For so long I've been working on my Legends of the Shetland Seas Stole.



But for the grafting of the border, I am finished with the knitting. Before starting this stole, I fully intended to knit the Peacock from Fiddlesticks. However, peer pressure swayed me and I joined a KAL for the LOTSS. Since I won't allow myself to knit more than one shawl at a time (for fear I will fail to finish something), I have lived with that decision for years. Boy does it feel good to be so close to the end of this stole!



As the knitting of my LOTSS drew to a conclusion, I enjoyed planning my next shawl project. I poured over the Fiddlesticks website and even purchased yarn for the Peacock shawl. Can you guess what happened next?



Pi.

My friend Cary from Christian Artisans started talking about a wonderful group to which she belonged called EZ as Pi. Apparently a sucker for peer pressure, I joined the group. They were getting ready to start a Pi shawl KAL. A visit to Lisa Souza's website brought me some incredibly soft merino yarn in the South Pacific colorway and now I find myself in the middle of another shawl KAL, knitting a different shawl than the one I planned.

I chose a plain Pi because the yarn is so colorful and because after the LOTSS, I needed a bit of a break. I also feel like I need to boost my confidence in my ability to finish things in time periods not measured by years.

The colors of my Pi are very cheerful. If I can get this done in a reasonable period of time, I am considering giving it to my sister as a gift. She is sick all of the time and I hope it might cheer her up a bit. I haven't decided for sure because she has the worst allergies and I'm not sure if she can handle wool. Then, I also have a dog and I know she is allergic to all types of pets. I worry some dog hair might inadvertently find its way into the knitting of the shawl. I have been praying for her while I knit it though. She needs prayer and this shawl provides a good reminder for me to do it regularly. If you feel so led, please pray for Michelle. She is so sick all of the time and has so many problems. She is on so many medications which impact her in so many major ways.

I found a really great sock kit from Blackberry Ridge for my next sock project. However, I got distracted with some sock yarn from Lorna's Laces in the Watercolor colorway and started socks with it instead.



The two skeins of yarn have subtle color differences. I like the golds and pinks in the socks very much, but I prefer the colors of the first sock to the colors of the second.

I'm supposed to be knitting socks for my mother. She picked out some yarn and I ordered it back in the first half of December. I'm still waiting for the yarn. Needless to say I won't be doing business with this company any longer. It has recently had a change of ownership and is WAY too slow for me.



There is good news and bad news about the alpaca/silk sweater I knit for Michael. The good news is it fits after all.



In fact, he looks adorable in it. Unfortunately, after he wore it one time, I hand washed it with some light blue socks. The dye in the socks had apparently not been set right. The sweater came out with blotches of blue all over it. This time the dye set just fine and I couldn't get the blue off of the sweater.

When the going gets tough, I tend to get impulsive. So I figured I'd just dye the whole sweater blue. Not having any "real" dye, I grabbed a bottle of blue food color and some vinegar. That left the sweater a blotchy teal color. I really liked the teal color since teal IS my favorite color, but the blotchyness was AWFUL. So I dyed and redyed until all of the blue food color in the house had been used as well as half of the Wiltons dye. The sweater is blue, but it is still blotchy. The worst blotch is right in the center front.



How depressing is that? After months of inconstant knitting, the sweater is ruined after only one wearing. I suppose it is good that we appear to be having an early end to winter this year.

The Christian Artisans ladies are in the middle of a secret sister fiber swap. This has been so much fun! My secret sister was Melissa and she sent me some GORGEOUS fiber in the greens and blues we both love.



Not only is this fiber beautiful, but it is so soft! I have GOT to get at my spinning wheel soon!!!

When I found out I was pregnant, I decided I wasn't going to spend a bunch of money on baby toys since Michael would probably be the last child for us. But he loves his toys so much.



I am apparently incapable of sticking to my resolutions because we can barely walk in our house for stepping over the baby stuff.



Here is Michael playing with his new floor gym. Neither Gregory nor Gabrielle ever had one of these. Of course, they weren't as interested in these sorts of things like Michael either.

Michael wants to be held almost constantly. I will confess I like that I can distract him with fancy toys for a few minutes here and there, which allows me to do things like teach Gregory piano and do laundry, housework and cooking. As for knitting, most of it gets done in the late hours after everyone else goes to bed. Many mothers with small children walk around like zombies because their infants keep them awake at night. My knitting keeps me awake at night more often than not.