Knitting Away

I've been busy knitting away on various different projects. I think I have too many right now, if I am going to be honest with myself. After I finished all the knitting for Leah and Adam I got back to the Mandala Shawl I was working on. I don't have new pictures but I finished clue 4 and I have to start on the border.

I also started the KAL for the Anniversary Mystery Shawl 09 and am in the middle of clue 3. I only started this last weekend so I'm behind the rest of the group. Clue 4 came out today and I hope I can get started on it sometime this coming week. The yarn is Classic Elite Silky Alpaca and I'm using size 3 mm needles. It is so soft and nice to work with. Unfortunately, the needles are too short to stretch out the shawl so you can't really see how beautiful it actual is.

The Little Needle Lovers group on Ravelry has a KAL every other month. Different patterns are voted on and then you decide which one of the onces chosen you want to knit. One of the patterns is Jabot. It's beaded and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to make something beaded. I guess you could call it a beaded bag but it isn't going to be very large. I bought a bead spinner a few years ago at the Knitter's Frolic and this was my first opportunity to use it. I have to say I love the thing. It made stringing all those beads almost painless. I believe I have less than 20 rows left before this is done and then I need to decide what I want to do about the strap. The most annoying part about knitting this is moving the beads along. Other than that, I am really loving it.

I'm always hesitant about exchanges because I once had a very bad experience but that didn't stop me from joining a "Gifts From Your Local Yarn Shop" exchange on Ravelry. I received my package today and I have to say I am so glad I decided to take the plunge and join. I love every single thing I received. The Yazzii is going to be great for knitting notions. It opens up and has 4 clear zipped pouches inside. I can never have enough tape measures and even though I've already had the sock blocker key chain I love it so much and I have seperate house and car key chains so I'll have another one now. Both yarns are so soft. The rest is laceweight lambswool and the other is 4 ply. I think I am going to knit the Hydrangea pattern Nan sent me using the lace yarn. I just have to decide if I want to try and double it up or not. I'm not sure what I will make with the second skein of yarn. I'll decide once I do a swatch. I'm leaning towards a scarf, or cowl and fingerless mitts.