I’ve been working (or not working, as the case may be) on the Pacific Northwest Shawl for quite awhile. Ok… a long, long while. I decided that I was feeling a little lace Jones, and the PNW Shawl would be a good project to take to Victoria. I was planning, as you recall, that my little Victoria jaunt would include lots of sitting on the balcony basking in the sunshine while soaking up the view and knitting time. That’s not exactly what happened, but that was the plan. The STR County Clare went in my purse as a pick-up project between bouts of serious balcony-sitting.

So, as I packed I grabbed the bag that holds the PNW Shawl, and reached for the pattern where I always keep it under the project bag.

It wasn’t there.

Racking my brain for clues to the whereabouts of my pattern, I seemed to remember that I put both it and a never-knit but interesting sock pattern in a safe place where they wouldn’t get lost before I turned my short attention span back to them. Yep. That’s where the pattern was all right! I confidently strode to my safe place.

It wasn’t there.

OK. I do have more than one safe place. I have two normal safe places. I confidently strode to the other safe place.

It wasn’t there.

I went back to the first safe place and looked again. The pattern had not magically appeared. I went back to the second safe place and looked again. The pattern had not magically appeared.

I scratched my head a couple of times. Those were my only safe places.

I went back to the first safe place and tore it to pieces looking. If the pattern had been there, it could not have escaped notice. It wasn’t there. Lather, rinse, repeat at safe place #2.

You get the idea. I went back and forth several times, and I couldn’t find that @#%& pattern.

In the end, I discarded the idea of getting to work on lovely lace, and packed Clapotis #2, which I never touched because most of my knitting time was outside the room with only the socks to keep me company.

When I came home, not believing that the pattern would simply be gone, I looked in both safe places again. It wasn’t there.

If you think I’m exaggerating this story, you don’t know me very well. I even toyed with the idea of asking #1 Son if he had borrowed my lace pattern (he already knows that his mom is a little strange, so no harm would be done). But in the end, I decided that I might never hear the end of that.

Last night at Tangle knitting night, D mentioned that she was interested in trying some lace, which I heartily recommended. I told her about my fruitless search for my pattern, and said I might have to buy the thing again just so I could finish the project. We had a good laugh about it. Ha ha.

At home, I thought to myself self, you have got to find that pattern. It has to be somewhere in the house.

Knowing that it was fruitless, I went over to safe place #1 and stood there staring at it. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of one of my stash bins. The stash bins are opaque plastic. I could see that there was something paperish looking in this one. I whipped the cover off.

Yep. It was the PNW Shawl pattern. It was in more or less plain sight the whole time. Sheesh. 🙄

I put it in the normal safe place. Let’s see how long I can remember that, because… well I do have several competing projects and some of them actually have deadlines, like birthdays and Christmas.

The picture is my progress on the Victoria socks. I’ve turned the heels and started up the ankles. I’ve done about 1/2 of one pattern repeat. I’m rather pleased with the heels. They are plain stockinette with a garter boarder. The toes don’t look nearly as funky as the one in the top sock appears to be. Really. You can also see in this picture the tiny big of dark green and blue-ish pooling over the gussets. See it? It’s not that noticable in person either. I’m very happy with how this yarn is knitting up in this stitch pattern.

One thing I hadn’t thought of though: as the K2tog/yo pattern spirals around the sock, there will come a point where the K2tog must be worked with one stitch on one needle, and the other stitch on the other needle. That’s pretty annoying when doing two socks at once because you can’t just move the stitch over – the other sock gets in the way. Fortunately it only happens once every dozen rows or so.

Speaking of lace, I have 425 yds of Seasilk in a wonderful, one-of-a-kind colorway that is raspberry, olive, bronze, blue and beautiful. I want to do something lacy with it, but I haven’t hit on exactly what yet. And it’s not a lot of yarn, but it’s not like I can get more of it. It truly is a one-of-a-kind. (you can see it as the bottom skein in the stash shot from the vacation entry)

Have any of you knit the Swallowtail Shawl in the new Interweave knits? The yarn it calls for comes in slightly larger skeins and I think is finer than the Seasilk. I’m wondering if I will have enough yarn to complete this project.

I’m open to suggestions for patterns with this yarn. I don’t want something that will detract from the gorgeous colors. And many stitch patterns would get lost in it. What do you think? Let me know!

Stephanie in Vancouver relates:

Oh dear, I think I am in danger of becoming a sock addict. It just seems like magic. I twist a stitch here, knit a couple of stitches together there and now I have a little cup to hold my heel. I gently pick up the heel to send it home with the rest of the foot and next thing I know I have a warm place for my toes. It’s magic. I am enchanted.

Okay, so it’s just one little baby sock and the toe looks like someone cut it out with pinking shears, but it is MY sock and I love it!

heh heh… I told you that you would be assimilated! 😉 I bet your sock is very cute! And you should love it.

Thanks to every one else who commented, too!

… yep, that’s me!

Have you ever noticed how four-day weeks seem much busier than 5-day weeks? Perhaps because we try to cram 5 days worth of work into those four days. That’s certainly what happened to me this week. Work. Lots of it!

On the knitting front, I have 5 more pattern repeats to do on the ankles of the basket weave socks, and then I’ll be done, done done! And my needles will be free to start on my Sockapalooza pal’s yummy cabled socks.

I also have to get ready for the sock class. It’s coming up in 3 short weeks, and I have no materials ready. It turned out to be so popular that we are adding a second class. I don’t want to have more than 10 in the class, and I’m being hard nosed about people being able to make it to all three sessions. But it looks like both classes will fill.

So I’d better come up with a lesson plan, eh? 😆

Tangle will be having it’s first anniversary in June, and will be starting to carry Blue Moon yarn at about the same time. Alice has asked me to develop a sock pattern with Socks That Rock. I have a stitch pattern and a name, so now I just need to figure out how to turn my basic trial-and-error sock pattern into something that others can follow and actually end up with a pair of socks that fits. I’ll probably also do a toe-up cast-on clinic. We’ll see.

The pattern will be available here some time this summer, after a lot of test-knitting. Hopefully Knitty.com will have published the cast-on by that time also, so I can link to it.

The green sweater, Clapotis #2, the PNW Shawl and at least a couple of other pairs of socks languish in neglect.

It’s almost the end of the year, that time when one feels retrospective. Later I’ll write about what I finished this year. But here’s a look at what’s still on the needles — the great UFOs of 2005. (Note, these are UFO’s that I’m “actively” working on; not the ones that languish unloved and ignored.)

As always, click the pics for the bigger version in a pop-up.

This pair of socks represents all of the various socks on needles scattered throughout the house. I tend to start socks, and then get distracted. But this pair I’d really like to finish.

This is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in a color called “Gold Hill.” I’m working them on a pair of Inox Gray circs in US#2. I’m making the pattern up as I go along.

It’s hard to see in this picture, but the pattern across the instep is basically a 2×2 rib, but every other k2 has a faux cable worked every 4 rows. I think it looks kinda cool in a twisty sort of way.

The socks are my current “traveling” project.

This is the start of the green shirt-styled sweater that has been kicking around in my head for awhile. I’m knitting it of Donegal Tweed on US#10-1/2 needles.

Currently I’m working on the body of the sweater. I decided that I wanted my “shirt” to have ruffles down the front. The twisty stitches on the left are supposed to resemble small ruffles. I think it’s fairly successful.

I alternate working on this sweater with working on the PNW Shawl. It’s one of my “at home” projects.

And speaking of the Pacific Northwest Shawl, this is where I’m at right now. I have completed all of the seagulls, and started on the pine trees, which you can just see the tops of at the bottom of the pic. The yarn is a lace-weight wool. The needles are Inox gray — I love the pointiness of these needles for lace, and the smooth joins help, too.

You can also see the lifeline that I’ve thoughtfully put in, after ending up having to tink out 1/2 of the seagulls because I totally screwed up the pattern. It was a lot of stitches to tink.

I like lifelines. 🙂

I work on the PNW shawl at home, and only when I’m feeling fairly well rested. For me this is definitely not a mindless knit.

And, finally, this is Clapotis # 2. The yarn is Silky Tweed in color #13 (Cool Blue).

Every now and then I take this project as a “traveling project,” but I haven’t really gotten that far with it considering how long it’s been hanging around. I’ve finished the increase section and I’m on the straight section. I’ve dropped 3 stitches.

I have a long, long way to go.

Perhaps I should make a New Year’s resolution to finish these projects before starting something else.

Yeah… we all know how well that resolution will be kept! 😉

In other news, I finally got around to smooshing a bit of lubrication on the garage door opener’s screw. The garage door actually opens now, without sticking or binding. Go figure.

#1 Son will be home tomorrow. I’ve really missed him! I can’t wait to have him back.

It was cold here yesterday. Really cold, at least by Portland standards. Cold enough to break out a heavy coat and a scarf. I chose my lovely sock scarf as the cold-weather accessory du jour. I got a lot of smiles and comments about it. It’s cute and funny.

Made me want to make another one. A longer one. Maybe a striped one.

So I have three colors of Cascade 220 (color # 4002, a dark gray; #8010, an off-white; and #2401, a burgundy) that will soon turn into a lovely striped sock scarf. I’m thinking plain stockinette with garter, short-row heels this time.

And I’m going to finish the damn thing before I start anything else.

I’ve said that before, haven’t I?

In other knitting news, I tried to knit the Pacific Northwest shawl while half asleep and ended up royally screwing it up, after having finished all of the seagulls. Of course I had no life-line in place. Why would I do something smart like that? Not trusting myself to rip out rows and then pick-up lace stitches correctly, I had to tink back stitch by stitch to the place where everything was right again. It was 20 rows. An average of about 120 stitches per row. It took hours, and I had to take out all of the work that I’d done since picking it up again. 😥

Then I put in a lifeline.

Before becoming distracted by sock scarf two, I had completed all of the seagulls and started on the pine trees. I’m moving the lifeline up periodically. So far, so good.

I really want to finish a project or two. Guess I should stop starting new ones, eh?

Long-time readers will remember that we don’t consider any celebratory gathering a true success unless there has been at least one crisis. This year’s Thanksgiving crisis was thoughtfully provided by none other than our own #1 Son.

I headed south (they have moved since last year) to the house of friend B, his wife K, and their family, candied sweet potatoes in hand. #1 Son headed north to pick up girlfriend E. They were planning a two-house Thanksgiving hop, and were to meet me at B’s in time for dinner. From there they would return to E’s house to eat dinner with her family.

All of us at B’s house were just getting ready to sit down for dinner when my cell phone rang:

#1 Son (I swear in one breath): The check engine light came on and the car started sort of shuddering and I’m afraid to drive it after all the stuff that happened before and so I pulled off the freeway at the next exit and parked at Capitol Hwy and Taylor’s Ferry and now I don’t know what to do and I’m not even sure exactly where I am and what should I do now?

Mom: Stay there. I’ll come and get you and we’ll figure it out later.

#1 Son: We’re supposed to go back to E’s house.

Mom: We’ll figure it out. I’ll be there as soon as I can.

#1 Son: Do you know where this is?

Mom: Yes. Don’t worry, I’ll find you.

Reminding myself that kids are more important than turkey, I told B and company that I’d be back in time for seconds with kids in tow, and off I went. We were, indeed, back for seconds (our firsts), and there was plenty left. We had a very nice time, as always, with good company, good food, a fun game, and great conversation.

We needed to leave a little bit earlier than I would have liked, because, of course, #1 Son and E had to go back to her house for their second dinner. Since we were now reduced to only one car, the only sane thing to do was for them to drop me off at home and take my car. My Prius. Have I told you how I love my Prius? I told E to make sure that #1 Son drove carefully.

About 40 minutes after they dropped me off at home #1 Son called:

#1 Son: Mom, I’m really sorry but on the way back to her house E didn’t feel well and there wasn’t a good place to pull over and she got kinda car sick and I’m afraid she puked all over your car but we’re trying really hard to clean it up. Sorry about that. I hope you’re not too mad.

No, I wasn’t too mad. Getting sick isn’t exactly a choice. And the kids did try really hard to get it cleaned up.

Today on the way to where #1 Son left his car, I stopped at the store and picked up a can of Arm & Hammer no-vacuum carpet deodorizer spray. It pretty much took care of any lingering effects.

#1 Son’s car? A loose wire on the spark plug. The mechanic charged nothing to fix it while giving the car the oil change that #1 Son had put off a few miles too long.

Of course the greatest tragedy of the whole adventure was that the only left overs we had in our possession when leaving B’s house was a few of the candied sweet potatoes, and #1 Son took those to E’s house. So this year, for the first time in a long, long time, I’m not making my traditional post-Thanksgiving turkey shepherd’s pie. I may have to pick up a few of the ingredients at the deli tomorrow and fake it.

Tonight I’m working on the long-neglected Pacific Northwest Shawl. I’m on the second-to-last seagull group. I’d like to get this one finished, I think. I’ve made good progress on the Donegal tweed sweater, also. And the socks are always going.

I hope all of you had a Thanksgiving that was special and full of good things.

Or a long drive anyway.

I had to drive to Seattle yesterday for a meeting. That’s 9 hours of driving for a 6 hour meeting. I left home at 5:00 AM. I arrived back home at 9:30 PM, tired to the bone and fell into bed. On the way up I made the mistake of stopping at McD’s for breakfast. Bad idea. Imagine driving and driving and driving, and then sitting and sitting and sitting, and then driving and driving and driving, all with a stomach that is mightily pissed off that you put such junk into it. Oh yeah, it was not a pretty sight.

All I can say is thank the universe for free coffee and Oreo cookies at all of the Washington rest areas along I-5. I’m not as young as I used to be, and I’m not sure I would have made it without those cookies. Yum.

I could have flown. But, what with airport travel time on both ends, going through security, etc., it takes 3 hours to fly to Seattle. I could have taken the train (and that would have been my preferred method) but I would have to go up the night before and I just didn’t want to. So I drove.

On the knitting front, not much progress. Clapotis #2 sits forlornly in its bag, glaring balefully at me as I ignore it. Tilt, that I had planned to have finished last weekend, is all finished except for the sleeves. I’ve made it up to the wrists and no further. The PNW Shawl… still holding at the seagulls. And the lovely Lorna Laces goldhill socks? Well… I have the toes 1/2 done. Judy’s Magic Cast-On toes, of course, and lovely toes they are. The socks will be lovely, too, if I ever finish them.

Do you know what Judy needs?

More time.