Tight as Owls

You can see how light and airy the shawl is.

 I read the title in my book today and thought it sounded funny, two soliders were on leave in France during WWI and they went out drinking and got “tight as owls” I think it is the best way to describe being drunk that I have heard in a long time.

I am not getting as tight as an owl because I am working on the additional rows of the Citron. I am on repeat six which has 294 stitches after the first increase row. I am still on my first ball of yarn. I was hoping to do seven repeats and a longer ruffles but I just might die of boredom before then. I also haven’t finished Luna’s kitty blanket and during a moment of weakness I cast on for a top down raglan using the yarn my mom brought me back from Ireland. I am still working on the yoke of that one but I have to strand two colors in a striping pattern to make sure I have enough yarn which makes things go slower since they are constantly getting tangled or attacked by rogue cats. I am so trying to be good and only use stash yarn but I have to say I am hitting rock bottom. I was actually thinking of what to make from a lone skein of homespun someone gave to me a few years ago.

I love the haze of the yarn and the subtle ruffling.

A while back I bought two bags of Lion Brand Midnight Mohair at the JC Penney outlet. Each bag had (4) balls of yarn in it. I love the color and thought it would be similar to the pink mohair blend I made my Shetland Triangle out of but it’s not. It is at two strand blend and not quite as soft as the pink stuff. So I was looking around for something to make with the yarn and found a pattern called the Storm Cloud Shawelette by Hanna Breetz from Ever Green Knits. She also designed the Manzanita cowl which I also knit recently.

My blue color way called Glacier Bay reminded me of cloudy skies so I cast on. The Shawelette is pretty neat. It is a half circle with a drop garter stitch pattern. It works up super fast and looks amazing. It really showcases the yarn. The only problem and it is solely mine own is that I didn’t have quite enough yarn. I was so sure I had enough to cast off on my ruffle but I didn’t. I was too lazy to rip back and put hundreds of stitches back on to cast off that I started to scavenge every scrap of yarn I had to cast off. I wove in all the ends and clip the yarn. I split it in half and put it together but no luck I still needed yarn for about four more inches of binding. I checked my entire stash, all my scraps and tried to find something that matched no luck. I finally found blue colored mohair that matched sort of and used that for the last few inches. It doesn’t match exactly but I don’t mind. I love the way this shawl wraps around and stay put and the ruffle is super girly. I still have one more bag of the yarn and so I can make a second if want to.

A healthy sized half circle shawl.

Reading will be pretty slow for the next few months. I am working on John Dos Passo’s U.S.A which is a trilogy. I reserved it for the summer but found it so interesting I started reading it early. I am also still working on Nostromo by Joseph Conrad and Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara. I have been working on a project list for the summer. I want to get in some sewing time and I have about 30 squares sewn that I want to put together to make a few sit upons for the summer. We go to festivals and spend time in the park and having small pads for sitting on is so much easier than big blankets.

We are getting ready for Nate’s graduation and party and I am starting to realize that sending a kid off to college is a full time endeavor. We have forms to fill out, physicals, tests, shopping lists, and driving lessons to keep him busy for the next three months. The boss has been teaching Luna to fetch a piece of crumpled up paper. She thinks it a ball. Luke my 4 year old nephew says that Luna is a “dog with cat parts”. Hilarious!

Links
Storm Cloud Shawelette by Hanna (Ever Green Knits) This pattern is free and awesome!