California Girl in Oz

I thought that knitted-on border was going to finish me off, but there's nothing like keepin' on keepin' on... Here's the finished product, even if it does still look like a large red puddle: Don't have the energy to tackle the blocking at the moment.  But I do have a nice glass of Zin poured and at the ready to celebrate! Tomorrow is soon enough for the soaking, blocking...and modeling!

We were delayed a day in leaving Australia because of the volcanic ash cloud that caused cancelled flights for a few days.  Bad news was we had to route through LAX instead of direct to SFO, but we arrived eventually, tired but ready for some summer.  Oakland was glad to oblige! I did some knitting on the train to Sydney, then gave it a rest for the flight.  The Red Highland Triangle Shawl is proceeding well and I'm knitting the edging now.  Fiddly, but effective.  Wanna see?  Of COURSE you do! The shawl still looks kind of like a big red puddle, but it will change into a dramatic, beautiful piece when it's blocked...I hope.  Here's where we are with it today. As you can see, there's a l-o-n-n-n-n-g way to go, so I'm taking a break and (surprise, surprise) starting something new: I bought this gorgeous yarn at Stitches West last year and have been itching to start something with it.  Now seemed like a good time...  I seem to be on a red kick, don't I?  T

Jetlag has me in its throes...asleep at 5PM, up at 1AM...what's a girl to do?  Why, funny you should ask! On the last trip I wore my greeny-brown Highland Triangle Shawl a lot and enjoyed it every time, so I decided to make another.  I can credit/blame Bells for my color choice...RED, RED, RED.  It's Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, which is the same yarn I used for the last Highland Triangle.  It suits this shawl very well.  Drapey, easy to wrap, not too heavy, a nice sparkle to the color because of the silk content.  This pattern, from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls book, is a dream to knit.  Daunting, at first, because it is such a large shawl, but the pattern is simple, logical, orderly and relaxing to knit once you have the hang of it.  As you see, I photocopy the chart and put it on a board with a rubber band to mark the rows.  I also highlight the pattern repeats to prevent getting lost if my mind wanders, and I use stitch markers on the needles for the same reason

We arrived back today after a very easy flight.  It was a busy trip for me, from a knitting point of view...lots of hats promised and delivered.   Here's the navy watch cap for Ross, finished, at last.  Forgot to take a photo of the brown one for Greg...need to get a modeled shot. And here's the brown Porom for Karine...need to get permission from her to post a pic of her wearing it! It looks MUCH better on her, believe me... And here's me wearing the charcoal beret I made for Rodnay.  Also need to ask if I can post a pic of him wearing it... I think I already posted pics of the Mink/Cashmere berets in blueberry, so I won't post them again.  But here's what I'm up to now.. First, a small triangle shawl, a Mystery Knit-along on Ravelry, pattern by Wendy Johnston.  This picture was taken shortly after I started, and now I'm only waiting for the final clue before finishing. And last, but not least, Anne Hanson's Crooked Walking Shawl is now underwa