One (or two) for the books

Last weekend was so hot, it gave me an excuse to stay inside during the middle of the day (rather than suffering out in the garden) and knit. Yes, knit on a Saturday and Sunday. ( I know....radical idea. ) I'll bet those of you who live on farms keep the same kind of weekend work schedule as we do. We feel the need to accomplish as much as we possibly can, while we are both here to tackle the never-ending list. Most of the time, dinner happens around 10 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, because we work outside til it's too dark to see.

 This is one for the record books.....I have two finished projects because of heat related knitting! More shawl love here. The big shawl was started many months ago and was put aside because of a minor error that needed correcting. I ripped out a few rows and finished up in no time. (This is a fatal flaw of mine-getting right up to the finish line and then stalling out.) The pattern is a freebie from Crystal Palace. You can find it here. I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca and it's so lovely and soft, I know I will wear it often.

The little stripey, garter stitch scarf/shawlette is Noro sock yarn and I'm pretty sure it has been on the needles for years. I made up this one as I went along,  casting on three stitches, then doing yarn-over increases along the edges and on either side of the center stitch, every right side row. I finished it off with a short ruffle, made by knitting in the front and back of every stitch, then knitting until I was nearly out of yarn (I had about 2 yards leftover). Noro sock yarn is very deceiving because it feels so rough when you're knitting with it, but after washing and blocking, it's quite soft. I'm really happy with both of these and especially happy to have two projects off my shamefully large pile of unfinished knitting. Maybe there's hope for me, after all. I'm fighting the urge to make a big pledge to finish all my unfinished knitting before starting anything new, but I know myself too well. My chronic "startitis" is the reason I have my pile of shame to begin with!