New Beginnings Shawl - Done!

and, ah hah, I knit.  This is the New Beginnings Shawl, a Facebook KAL.  I title this one yarn vomit.  It is unblocked but finished shawl.  It has beads, etc.  The pattern was free to those of us who participated in the KAL.  Four clues distributed over four weeks.  Great fun!

This is Zachariah helping me block the shawl.  He loves to help block the yarn vomit until it turns into a loverly piece of knitting.  I love having him help me block my knitting.  In fact, as soon as I rolled out the foam, he actually put down his Ipod and jumped down to help me.

and this is the final blocked piece of work.  I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed doing this.  It was with Caron Simply Soft Light yarn in Hawaiian Sky  (a better pic of the color is below).   It isn't really green but more of an aqua/blue, like, oh, a Hawaiian Sky!  

I don't remember what the variegated yarn was but I had in my stash.

I used a multitude of a variety of different color beads.  The beads go up the "Y" and various other places, including a beaded bind off (a new technique learned).  

 There is a new KAL being started in March.  I already have my fingering weight yarn, in black (gasp) for that KAL.  If you want to join in the fun, go to the link above for this KAL on Facebook.

Wednesday's musings

In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.
— Janos Arany

Sarah and her boyfriend have decided to wait until she finishes school before wedding . . . good plan. Especially since it forced her to focus on what it is that she wants to do. So, she finally sat down with a counselor and really pulled all her stuff together and figured out that she needs about 18 months more of school. She is grossly disappointed but thoroughly committed to get it done, so much so that she is taking classes all day on Tuesday and Thursdays, Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, leaving her with an opportunity also work. I told her that:

• the time will go incredibly fast
• in 18 months, she will only be 24
• if she doesn't finish now, she will regret it (learn from me . . . I got married and then finally finished school 27 years later)
• if he isn't willing to wait (which he hasn't said it is just something she is afraid of), he isn't worth it
• he wants to be in a stable job (the company he is working for is moving the work to Mexico . . . he has been there 14 years)
• save money . . . she needs to learn how to save money

What I was thinking, was now I will have time to:

• make a beautiful shawl/stole for her (and maybe me?)
• lose weight (18 x 4 = 72 weeks . . . I COULD lose a pound a week, really I can)
• save money . . . I know how to, but choose not to . . . LOL

And, as the quote above says, "in dreams and in love there are no impossibilities."

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Today is Zachariah's first day of third grade. He is very excited. Very, very excited. His teacher is wonderful (almost as good as his first grade teacher . . . for those of you who do not know, Dave was his first grade teacher). His teacher is in her second year of teaching. She came from Poland about six years ago. She is probably about 40 years old. She came to Cleveland, went to college and loves teaching. Dave and I have been at several social events where she and her husband have also been in attendance. They are wonderful people. I just know that this will be a great year.

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Lindsey is also excited about school starting. She is taking AP U.S. History, Honors Chemistry, Honors Algebra II, Spanish III, Orchestra/HandBells (very cool), Theology, Honors English. Her school does block schedule (80 minutes classes, four classes a semester, except for AP U.S. History which is an all year class). So, for this first semester, she has History, Spanish, Theology and Orchestra/HandBells.

The biggest issue she has is that NONE of her friends are in ANY of her classes. Poor thing. I did point out to her that when she started at the Academy last year, she didn't know anyone.

She is also going to be on the Swim team and is toying with track. She had thought about cross-country but decided that she is more into short work than long work.