Smoking Needles

Things have been flying on and off my knitting needles at such a rapid pace I need some kind of cool Western cowgirl name. You know, quick on the draw like Sharon Stone in The Quick and the Dead.(did you know Sam Raimi directed that?!) Three finished projects this week have me feeling quite smug. Knitmeter tells me that I'm inching close to 16k yards knit this year. Boy howdy! That is a lot of knitting.

I pulled out the first Japanese knitting book I ever bought - Favorite Aran Knits - and whipped up a couple of hats. Top left is #5 cap knit in Dream in Color Classy in Blue Lagoon. This was a
partial skein left over from the Little One's February Baby Sweater. I still have 69 yards left of the skein. After digging through the stash a little I found an almost full skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Azul Profundo which is my very very favorite Malabrigo color. I cast on #1 Cap and knit away. I don't know why I don't knit with Malabrigo more often since it's like butter in my hands. It's incredibly soft and has great stitch definition. Those cables just POP on the reverse stockinette background.

I also finished up my Brandywine Shawl. This is shawl #6 for me this year. It's a pretty little thing and it was fun and easy to knit. All of the action happens up front with the first chart and then
it's just the border with acres of garter stitch in between. This thing practically flew off my size 6 lace needles. Really. As in 4 days flew off my needles. I finally cast on a more complicated project that has beads and multiple lace charts and even GASP counting! Oh my.