You all won't believe it...not 24 hours after my last post did my Panta reappear! I took one of the work vehicles out and when I returned I happened to park next to the vehicle from the lost-Panta day. I get out of the car and through the glass I see my Panta, laying right on the console between the two front seats! Woo hoo! It must have fallen between the seats or something because I swear I didn't see it the last time I looked for it (obviously not thoroughly). Apparently someone else noticed it, and I am so happy 'cause I love that thing!

And the good news keeps on coming...the Victoria shawl is blocked and ready to roll:
(This photo is of me doing a robot walk, lol) I think she is so pretty...but I have promised myself that the next shawl I knit is going to be in a thicker yarn and a more casual pattern. The fancy shawls are fun to knit but how often do ya really get to wear them? Maybe there are some who would wear the fancier shawls out and about, but not me!

The whole time I was knitting this, I was worried it was going to be really small, but it blocked out perfectly--I think to about the 32" by 82" inch measurements called for. The shrivelly pre-block state always throws me off!

Pattern notes: "Victoria Shawl" from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby.
Yarn: 3 skeins of KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud in color "Mist Heather", courtesy of the lovely Jeanne (thanks again :). Knit on 3.5 mm needles.

I didn't have any problems with this pattern! My only (unintentional) mod was making the edging stockinette-based lace rather than the garter-based lace that the pattern called for. But, it all worked out in the end and I actually like that the edging looks a bit more open and delicate.

Well, this past week I was all bogged down with a swamp-lung cold...I can't remember having this bad of a cold in at least a few years. Oh well, I am on the upswing again and hopefully this week will be a better one! Since I haven't posted a scenic picture in a while, I figured I better put one up now! There isn't quite as much "nature" around here as up north, but there is still plenty to be found. This is on a salt marsh near the ocean:

Sadly, I have a couple of knit-tragedies to report...it all started the day I went skiing and I was frantically trying to find my Panta, which is my go-to winter head wear. I finally remembered that I had last used it a couple days previously on some outdoor site visits for my work. No problem, I thought, I'll just swing by my office and pick it up.

Several minutes later, I ran through the eerie, darkened office (isn't being at your work on a weekend the strangest thing?) to my lovely cube...and...no Panta. I even made a desperate dash outside to the work vehicle that I had used that day...nothin'. I grumpily wore another hat for skiing, and I still haven't found the Panta. I'm starting to think I must have dropped it somewhere on my site visits and it's probably long-gone. So expect to see some sort of head-band type object being knitted up soon...a Calorimetry, perhaps?

Then, an even greater knit tragedy hit...One of G's Stinky Sox somehow ended up with a big, unraveled hole! Eeeks! We were sitting on the couch and G happened to sort of rub his ankle and said "What the...?" Looked down and there was this hole! It looks like the yarn broke, so I wondered if it had gotten caught on something but G said he doesn't remember anything like that. I figured it was sort of a freak thing until I looked at the other one a couple days later, and:The yarn broke along the cuff of the other sock.

After mulling it over, I wonder if I weakened them by machine washing (I did line dry)? I thought Cascade Fixation was machine washable but the Cascade website says to hand-wash. Anyone else machine wash their Fixation? Anyone else have this problem?

I guess this pair is pretty shot now...I thought about ripping it back to the hole and reknitting to fix it, but if the overall sock is weakened it's probably not worth it :( I'm especially sad because they were such a slog to knit.

Anyhoo, it's not all bad news here:
The Victoria Shawl is done and bathing! FO next time!