Lots of Knitting, No FOs.

I've managed to get quite a bit of knitting in lately. Unfortunately, I don't really have much to show for it. I am working on the third stitch pattern on the shawl I am designing but I've had to put that aside for a while so I can think about my options and let everything digest.

I am halfway through the second set of stars in the Sweet Dreams Baby Blanket for Leah but I didn't take it with me yesterday when I went to the Purl. It's getting larger and I didn't want to take it out of the house. So, I decided to start the blanket for Adam. I'm doing the same blanket as for Leah but I am using a much thicker yarn. The yarn is Patons Country Style DK that I had in my stash. I'm surprised it's DK. It looks more like a worsted weight. I'm using 5.50mm needles and this is what I managed to do yesterday while at the Purl. I have to put this aside for a little while as well.

The reason I have to put it aside is to knit this. The pattern is called Naomi and it is from The Mirasol Collection - Book 5 by Jane Ellison. The yarn is Nuna and even though the picture doesn't look like it, the colour is teal. This is what I've managed to knit today. I did the swatch this morning and had to wait for it to dry before I could measure and cast on. Tis needs to be done by the Knitter's Frolic so no matter how you look at it I'm going to be knitting my fingers to the bone and even then I am not sure I'll get it done. I have less than 2 weeks. The back has 145 sts and I have to knit it to 29 inches on 3.5mm needles. I'm beginning to wonder what I might have gotten myself into. I just don't want to disappoint but I will do the best I can and that is all I can do.

On that note, it's back to knitting for me.

Attempting To Design

Things have been busy around here as always. Today the weather is just horrible. It's been raining all day. I wish it would just stop. I've had enough of it.

The good part about rain, however, is that you don't feel guilty when you're not out in the warm sunshine. I've taken advantage of the nasty weather to make more progress on the design I've been working on. Last week I took a shawl design class at The Purple Purl. The instructor was Amy Singer of Knitty fame. The class was two consecutive Thursday's. Well I spent 5 days going through stitch dictionaries trying to find patterns I like and then just picked 3 diamond shaped motifs I liked. The class was on either triangular or rectangular shawls but I wanted to do square. It is, after all, just 4 triangles no?

This is the progress I've made so far. I am in the middle of the second stitch motif and I've almost completed 2 repeats. I think I am going to do at least another half repeat if not an entire repeat. I'll decide when I finish the second. As I look at the picture, I'm not sure if I like the 4 rounds of st st that divide the two stitch motifs either. I am not sure if I should have just done 2. I will make a final decision on that once I get the knitting done on this one and block it.