Until what you may ask? Until my SPINNING CLASS!!! No, I’m not completely excited or anything. Just dying with anticipation! You’re jealous, I can tell.

Well, here’s a picture of my shrug temporarily disguised as a stole.

Not the greatest picture, I know. My hair is flat and wet because I’m about 10 minutes out of the shower, and my face is still flushed from working out. BUT, there it is. I’m going to frog the last 2 inches of garter stitch and continue knitting for the shrug, however probably not this week, as I’ve some Valentines to make.

I’ve been making stationary cards, I’m almost done with a doll, and I went and bought some more red beading wire yesterday. A sweet lady in the floral department of JoAnn’s is going to start saving small boxes for me to mail Valentines in. I’m having so much fun.

As for the requests for tutorials, keep asking. I think there are other things I’ve been asked in the past, and I get distracted and forget. The bead tutorial sounds like a good idea. I’ll probably do it this week, since I’m going to be doing more beading than knitting, (theoretically. Honestly, I have a hard time grasping the reality of that). And the pattern for Lauralund…. well, no. I didn’t write anything down, and while I could go back and write general instructions, it’d only be for one size. And I’d have to measure it before I could tell you what that size is. But, I suppose, I could hash it out if you really want me to. But like I said, you’ll have to remind me. Like, next week. Along with the Noro lacy hat pattern I promised. Now that I’m thinking of it, I think I’ve had requests for the Ester Williams hat, and the flower pin…. I’m in trouble.

Also, I have a new nephew! My sister-in-law delivered her first child, a baby boy, on Friday night! We are all very excited for her and her husband. They’ve waited many years for this little bundle of joy. We wish them the best! We also welcome them to parenthood, both sincerely, and with the cynicism of experience. What a horrible thing to say! Congratulations, both of you. We’re thrilled!

That’s right. Lauralund is done, baby.

I know these pictures are pretty lame, but it was POURING down rain yesterday, so I wasn’t going outside.

As for love, Valentine’s Day is approaching. Last week, as I was knitting on the Kathmandu shrug, and slipping my pretty stitch markers…

I was thinking about how Valentine’s-y they looked, and then it occurred to me. I want to host a Finchy’s Feeling the Love giveaway. That’s right. On Valentine’s Day, I’m going to draw names from the comments of this post, and send out little gifties. I don’t know how many names, and I don’t know how many gifties, but I’d like to give Valentines to as many of my sweet readers as possible. SO, this week, I’m going to be making Valentines. I have some ideas. Valentine colored stitch markers will factor heavily, but I’m also thinking of other things. I’m only being mysterious because I don’t want to commit to things and then have to stress about getting them all done. No. This is going to be fun. I will tell you this though, I think Mary Sunshine’s doll (see sidebar) is getting a twin. Yup, we’re Valentine’s-ing, and it’s going to be great!

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll have you know that my beads are plastic, my yarn is acrylic… I’m not breaking the bank on this, but if you want to throw your name in the pot, leave a comment telling me as much in this post. Or an email, if you are unable to leave comments, as I know some of you are. On Valentine’s Day, I’ll post the list of winners, as well as a picture of the loot. I’m going to shoot for as many winners as possible, it all depends on how productive I am this week. Wish me luck!

UPDATE- Contest is now closed, as I’ve posted winners on my Valentine’s Day post. Thanks and happy Valentine’s Day!

Good morning! I did pretty good this week, although the scale doesn’t acknowledge it. I exercised Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Additionally, I did weights on Wednesday. It felt good. I ate pretty well this week, with the exception of Tuesday evening, when Nate came home with Thai food and eclairs. I have no regrets. It was glorious. Overall, I’m very happy with my week.

On Thursday and Friday, I made the conscious decision to spend my exercising time knitting, because I wanted to get the Kathmandu shrug done before today. Well, I didn’t get it finished. We’re just about to head into Seattle for our big date. I am hurriedly working the last inch of garter stitch on the edge in an effort to wear it anyway. Today, it’s going to be a smart looking stole, wrapped around my shoulders, secured with a pin. Tonight, the garter stitch edge will be frogged, and the shrug knitting will continue. I may have difficulty frogging, because it looks really darned cute as a stole.

How was your week?

I’m trying to get this shrug done by tomorrow. I’m almost halfway done. This isn’t looking good. BUT, the strangest thing happened to me last night as I went to the stash to grab an extra ball before heading out to the bakery for our Thursday night knit out. There should have been four balls there. There were five. I have no idea where the fifth ball came from. So, confused, I came out and asked Nate if I originally bought 6 balls like I thought. He said that he’d thought I bought 8 originally, meaning I should now have 10. I went hunting for the “10th ball”, and couldn’t find it. No, I have 9. This is a good thing, but I’m baffled. Our neighbor was over at the time, and he said they were multiplying. Can you imagine anything better than having a wonderful yarn procreate after purchase? I WISH that were the case, but no, some other weirdness is responsible for the extra ball of Kathmandu in my stash.

Getting back to last night, the large group that usually meets at the bakery had something else to do, so it was just Hayden and I. I can not remember the last time I had that much fun. We laughed, hard for over two hours. We flirted with the counter guy. We talked about boys. We talked about music. We talked about TONS of stuff. She said I remind her of her best friend from high school. Our visit reminded me of the many late nights spent at my best friend’s house in high school (hi Christine!). I could not have had a better time.

In other news, after a long and arduous search, I think I may have found a good yarn to make Clapotis with. (Who named it that? It drives me nuts). I wasn’t going to jump on the Clapotis wagon at first, but I’ve seen some really neat ones in blogland, and so I’ve been keeping an eye out for a good yarn. Wanna see what I found at Acorn Street yesterday?

This is beautiful yarn. It’s Ritratto by S. Charles. I want some. I have some pink Donegal that I think would look nice, but Donegal is really scratchy. This Ritratto is soft, and yummy.

As for the Hayden along, I haven’t heard anything this week. Let me know if there’s a Hayden to show. I’m amazed it has taken this long to get a couple dead weeks. I’m so happy it was such a popular pattern!

So that’s it then. I’m hoping to, over the weekend, finish the shrug, finish up and photograph Lauralund, Pete’s bag, and I have an announcement to make on Monday. Fun stuff. Remember, tomorrow’s Health Group. Have a great weekend!

I found a shop that had two balls of Kathmandu in my dye lot. That brings me to 8 balls, which I think will work. I knit a bunch on it yesterday. It knits up into a beautifully draping fabric that I could not get a decent picture of.

As for Lauralund… I know, I know. Many of you are impatient for pictures. Well, I’m getting there. I need to sew the buttons. That hasn’t happened yet. I promise, you’ll get your pictures.

Oh, and as luck would have it, the Silky Wool came into Columbine yesterday. Maybe if I had blogged about it a couple months ago, it would have come in then? Anyway, she didn’t get either of the colors I need for the Weasley sweaters. So I don’t know what I’m going to do. Pay cash somewhere else, I guess.

I’m stalling. Sort of. Because I spent all of last week knitting and resting, I have had to spend this week catching up. As in, doing the boring old things that NEED to get done. Like laundry, and more laundry. There are other things, but as I’m typing them out, I’m putting myself to sleep, so we’ll just say chores. Two weeks worth. I haven’t been knitting, OR sewing on any felted bags or lovely cardis.

Until last night, that is. I finally started my Kathmandu shrug, which doesn’t really have a prayer’s chance of being done by Saturday. I’m two and a half inches into it, and I don’t think I’m going to have enough yarn. This distresses me severely. Once the stores open, I’m going to start calling around to see if I can find any more. I doubt it’s still on the sale shelf at Hilltop, but I’ll try them. Then I’ll call the locals. Next, I’ll comb the internet. I should just give up and find a different yarn to make this with, but I don’t want to. I can think of nothing I’d rather do with this yarn than make my yummy shrug. Pout.

So, here’s a new list. There are a few things I want to accomplish…

1. Finish Pete’s bag

2. Finish Lauralund

3. Knit my Kathmandu shrug

4. Write out the Lacy Noro Hat pattern so I can share it with all of you

5. Knit a doll for Hayden

6. Knit something for Grandma

7. There’s the bowling bag purse with my nifty “L”

8. I’ve been dreaming of the Lily of the Valley shawl again. I can’t help it! It’s luscious.

9. there’s the Weasley sweaters… but my yarn hasn’t come in yet, and I’d rather wait and get it from Columbine than buy it somewhere else because I have constant store credit there, and I don’t want to fork out cash that I don’t have if I don’t have to. Also, I think I want to knit these on a machine. That’s a heck of a lot of tiny stockinette, and this is one project that I don’t particularly want to “knit”, so much as I want to see my daughters wearing. I want the finished project, not the knitting experience. Am I bad?

Veronica and I went to the craft store while the older two were in school. She was a peach, and I picked up some buttons for Lauralund.

This cardi is going to have a very rustic, and slightly Asian look to it. Ok, maybe significantly Asian after I add the bamboo buttons. For some reason, probably my deepening interest in lionhead goldfish and Thai food, I’ve been drawn to Asian decor. And mercy, is this sweater warm. I wore it out yesterday, fastened with the huge turtle pin. So cozy.

I finally took a picture of Pete’s bag.

It still needs the finishing touches, but I’ve worked the i-cord, just needs felting, and I bought the velcro yesterday for the pockets. Perhaps I’ll do some sewing today?

Oh, and the beading wire. I’ve been entertaining myself making stitch markers, as I know many people have. Other than a fabulous email tutorial by a wonderful reader in France, I have no freaking clue what I’m doing, besides amusing myself. I have bags of cheap, plastic beads that my daughters have acquired from different sources, a combination wire clipper/plyers thing, and 24 and 20 gauge wire. It’s a kick. And I’m even content with cheap beads!

Yesterday, it occurred to me to go back and look at the two “list” posts I did in November. Part 1, and part 2. Wow, I’ve done almost everything on the list, and the other things either don’t matter anymore, or are not pressing. I’ve been productive. I’m a free woman. I need a new list!

But for now, I need to sew buttons and loops on my cardi, finish Pete’s bag, and knit my Kathmandu shrug.