California Girl in Oz

Hooray! Today I finished the Pi Shawl! Here it is, in all its unblocked glory: 56" across, which will likely grow to 66" or more after blocking. And here's a detail of the Gull Wing lace pattern just before the final garter stitch border. This shawl was "unvented" by Elizabeth Zimmerman, and I made it pretty much as she suggests in the Knitter's Almanac: follow the pattern till you are out to 576 stitches (!!), then do as many rows as you can stand (I did 37 rows), then add a few repeats of the Gull Stitch pattern (I did 3 repeats), then a final cute sideways garterstitch border of 8 stitches, where you knit the final stitch of the border together with a stitch of the shawl, neatly avoiding ANY seaming. Details: 5.0 mm needles, starting with dpns, then to 16" circular, then 24" and ending with 40". I used about 3.5 "plates" of Unspun Icelandic wool in Blacksheep. This thing is warm, warm, warm, and so light you can't believe it

Actually, I've made even more progress since this pic. I've added another set of 20 rows or so, and have started a lace pattern...the last section before I add the sideways garter stitch border. It's slow going at this point, with 576 stitches on the needle, and it's murder on my hands and arms! Each round takes me about 20 minutes or so, so this will take awhile. Still, it's fun to see the progress. Can't wait to get it off the needles and see what it looks like blocked. And there's big progress at the farm, too. They finished digging the huge hole this morning for the 110,000 litre in-ground water storage tank. We are on town water here, but given how dry many areas of Australia are, we thought it would be prudent to collect all the rainwater from our roofs and channel it into this tank. We can use the water for the house, the garden, and for topping up the dam that's closest to our house. Here's the last scoop of dirt before the guys sta

So, this is what the socks looked like when the airline inspectors were finished snipping off the ends: (Sorry about the color...the yarn is actually a pale sage green.) (Also sorry I forgot to take a pic of the other pair...a variegated red pair of Nutkins, just started, that I put on new needles when I reached Oakland, forgetting to photograph the carnage.) So then, on the way back, I needed to try my hand at an end run around the inspectors, didn't I? And here is my triumph: bright red tweed neckwarmer, invented on the spot, comprised of simple K2P2 ribbing worked lengthwise, only I decided to add a ruffle at one end. Turned out kind of cute, no? It's a little loosely knit, though, because here's what I used to do the knitting... There's more than ONE way to skin a cat!! And here's what I've been working on since we got back to Oz. It's my first attempt at a Pi Shawl, from Elizabeth Zimmerman's fertile mind, knitted in Unspun Icelandic Wool...like

So, here we are in California, after three weeks of visiting, eating, shopping, and tomorrow it's time to head homeward. What else did I do while I was here? Well, I made this little sweater for Tess, who is likely being born even as I write! This was lovely pale, dusky violetty-lavender, a blend of cotton and bamboo. Lovely to knit, washable, soft -- what's not to like? And then I decided to make a little hat, 'cause it was COLD, COLD, COLD here! The hat turned out well, don't you think? Except when Thomas, the eldest grandson, saw it, he decided it was A-OK, so guess who got the hat?! And then, nothing else would do but that I should make a hat for William: And another for James: They were duly delivered last evening, and were well received. Granny can return to Oz, knowing the grandsons will have warm heads and cozy ears! I did a bit of damage to my credit card this trip: yarn from Schoolhouse Press for a sweater and a large shawl, yarn from KnitPicks for