four

Today I finished a project.

Well, I bound off, at least.

And I wove in the ends.

And washed the project in soak.

And pinned it out on my blocking mats.

So, I guess I'm done.

The Geysir Stretch shawl is the first pattern that was released in the ChoreoKAL eBook by Stephen West. I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this project. The pattern, once you got going, was fairly instinctual, as Stephen's shawls usually are. This made it great TV/movie/podcast-watching knitting. I probably would've finished earlier, but Thanksgiving (and the preparations for it) cut down on my usual knitting time. In any event, the shawl is done. Wet, but done.

Now I just need to wait for the temperature to drop a few more degrees so I can wear it. Not that I'm wishing for snow, but if the temperature drops below freezing and it doesn't snow, I always feel a little slighted. Like I should get a few snowflakes as a reward for surviving in this climate. Or something.

I believe I'll be casting on a Christmas gift next, so I can't really talk about it too much here. I can tell you, though, that I've knit this item before. Is anyone else knitting any Christmas gifts at the moment? I think most of us (knitters) probably are.

three

Egg Nog.

Can we all pause for just a moment and celebrate the absolute bliss that is Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Nog? Trust me on this one. You WILL NOT be sorry. Well, you might be sorry, but that's only if you don't really care for egg nog. If that's the case, I would recommend that you steer clear of this and any other nogs you may come across. While this particular egg nog is absolutely fabulous, it is still egg nog. It tastes like a glass (or mug, ahem) of holiday cheer. Egg Nog Season is one of my very favorite seasons, along with Sangria Season and Shamrock Shake Season. Oooh Shamrock Shakes...

Whilst sipping on my egg nog, just one mug of course, I have also been knitting on my Geysir Stretch shawl. I'm very happy to be working on the border of this awesome shawl, but these rows are getting quite loooong. I'm hoping to be finished with this project by the end of this month, which I think is a reasonable goal. I have 10 border repeats left, and those repeats are taking me about 40 minutes to complete at this point. As long as I put in roughly an hour of knitting each day (not hard for me to do), I should be finished by next weekend. Well, end of November, beginning of December... tomato, tomato... I guess you have to hear this for it to make sense... potato, potato.

Here's a picture of the progress so far... kind of. I guess it's really to see the colors together rather than the shape of the shawl at this point.

I really love how the colors look together, and I'm still excited that I knit this entirely from my stash. My yarn stash, as I write this post, is now at 47. My personal goal is to get my stash below 30 by February (which is when I'm flying out to California for STITCHES WEST!!!) so that I don't feel bad about all the yarn I'm sure to purchase there.

two

Today is certainly a top-drawer day.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year, but I'm really not sure I can say anything that hasn't already been said by one person or another. I love the turkey. I love the cranberry sauce (before -  the jiggly can-shaped mass; now - the orange zesty homemade kind). I love the Olive-Cheese Balls. Wait, what? You've never had olive-cheese balls? Well, for my family, they're definitely a signature appetizer for any gathering where we all look nice and drink some sort of sparkling wine. I can't remember a party without them. Try them at once! They are wonderful. Trust me.

My sister Sara and our cousin Kheli took the train in from Boston and arrived around six o'clock this morning. I didn't mind picking them up that early, as I've become a chronic early riser. The other day, I woke up completely naturally at 4:30 AM. Nothing makes me feel older than waking up before 5 AM. Well, maybe back pain...

Thanksgiving with my family is always full of traditions. The turkey, for instance, is always cooked by my father on his Weber Grill that he's had for years. It's always delicious, and always a little bit different year after year. An adventure, really. We always get a pumpkin pie, even though no one really eats it. However, I always try one new recipe every Thanksgiving, and it usually includes pumpkin. This year was no exception. I made Pumpkin Cheesecake Crumble Squares from the October 2006 (*gulp* a little late to the party here) Bon Appetit Magazine.

Today I started a new knitting project as well. Since it's Thanksgiving, I wanted a project that would be (a) easy to pick up and put down, (b) something I could work on without a printed pattern and highlighter, and (c) a single skein project. I decided on the Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure of bohoknits. Knit in the round with a lot of ribbing, followed by a lot of stockinette, this pattern definitely fit the bill. Since I have a few <cough> random skeins of sock yarn that I haven't really queued in my head yet, I thought this would be a great option. I'm using Malabrigo Sock in the 871 Playa colorway. This project is great for parade watching, telling stories, and everything else we like to sprinkle in between snack breaks on Thanksgiving.

I hope that your Thanksgiving was wonderful as well!

one

This is my very first blog post.

I've decided to start a blog about my knitting adventures, yarn exploits, and whatever else happens to stitch it's way into my life. I wouldn't say that my world is consumed by knitting and yarn or whatnot, but I definitely find time to knit every single day. I guess it's my own form of meditation; the repetition really seems to even me out. That's not to say there haven't been times [clears throat audibly...] where my screams of frustration could be heard from outside the house. At the end of the day, I really do love to knit. Don't you?

Over the weekend, I started a new scarf. I guess I should really call it a shawl, but I feel like scarf sounds more masculine. Maybe it's because the word "scarf" contains the word "arf" and if any dog's bark sounds like that, it must be a manly dog. In other news, I have a Chihuahua. Totally butch, I know.

Back to the scarf shawl... The pattern was just released today by one of my very favorite knitwear designers Stephen West and it's called Geysir Stretch. The shawl calls for three different colors of DK weight yarn, and he suggests alpaca because of the drape. However, worsted could also be substituted. Since I'm trying to knit completely from my stash these days, I've chosen three different colors of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Worsted. If you'd like, you can check out my project page for this shawl right over here, folks.

Here's my progress so far...

Is anyone else knitting this pattern? Are you enjoying it so far?