WIP Wednesday: Miller Park Shawl

I'm still working on Lynn's gloves that I started, and complained about elsenet, last Friday. Why did I complain about them? They're a 80/20% acrylic wool blend, both of which make my hands hot when I work with them. It's also currently the season of melting metal in Texas, though most people call it summer. I don't know, summer sounds warm but when you risk combustion just from walking outside it seems to be a bit more than summer.But when you add those two together it's just a recipe for insanity. I hope the husband recognizes how much I love him.

Anyhow, while they're a work in progress and thus technically available for this posting, they're getting set on the back burner for a bit. Horrors, I ran out of yarn just before I started the fingers on the second glove. I'm really not interested in buying a whole skein of yarn just for fingers. I will if I have too ... but with a limited budget I'd much rather use my yarn money for new stuffs to play with. So meanwhile I'm poking Ravelry to see if anybody has a bit of Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky in charcoal that they'd be willing to part with.

But, enough of projects I'm annoyed with. On to the good stuff.

Almost a year ago I signed up for a yarn swap. The premise is simple, you take a new skein out of your stash that you've lost interest in and agree to mail it to somebody else. When done correctly it's a big sharing circle and you get something new and awesome in your stash that you can play with. I hit the jackpot, truth be told. I ended up with 5 hanks of SWTC Sparkle in the Twilight colorway.

I was simply in love with this yarn. I searched and searched for exactly the right pattern to use it on and dreamed of the time when I'd be free to work on my own things instead of things that were somewhat time sensitive. I've never worked with silk or bamboo before I was just thrilled with the idea of having something pretty made from this that I could wear and sparkle with.

Last night at gaming, when I reached the end of the yarn tail for those gloves I set them aside and pulled a hank of this out of my purse. While the game play whirled around me I carefully untwisted the hank and let it hang over my knees. I paused to roll my dice and make my attack before I undid the ties spaced around the hank and I began winding the ball around my thumb.

As we finished off one group of foes impeding our progress I made my slipknot and cast on those first three stitches. I ended up having to redo the cast on 3 times. Going from size 6 DPNs to size 11 circs is certainly a challenge. But once I managed to get the first couple of rows down I was off and running.

There's not a ton of progress so far but this is what I got done last night. I think it's going to be gorgeous and lovely and sparkly. 

Pattern: Chastain Park Shawl (Rav Link)
Project Page: Ravelry

Date Weekend

Weekend:
Friday night we settled in at Miller to listen to Doyle Bramhall and The Gourds in concert. We all pretty much agreed that we prefered the opening act of Doyle Bramhall over The Gourds. I think I might enjoy The Gourds more if I could understand what they were saying. Saturday Miss Kidd was picked up by her mother for a weekend with her. Lynn and I had a full day planned for Saturday with eye exams, a movie, and being together. Sunday was sleeping in, cuddling, snuggling and loving the hell out of just being with each other.

The Eyes Have It:
Apparently when I complained for the last two years that my glasses were the wrong prescription I was right. The last office had switched my left and right lens and that's why I was having such a problem with them. The new doctor fixed it for me and Wow! what a change! Also, you're not supposed to wear the same contacts for 2 years either. Luckily I now have several more pairs and even more on order. Plus!! I've convinced Lynn that he needs new frames! I have managed to drag him closer to the current century in terms of fashion! *glee*

Harry Potter:
It was absolutely everything I could have asked for. I've managed to see every single one of them in the theater and loved every moment of it. I really can't wait until part 2 comes out on DVD so I can marathon them all, one after the other, over a weekend. I laughed at my favorite parts and I cried so much! I'm surprised Lynn's arm wasn't dripping since I kept wiping my tears off on him.

Entertainment:
In with everything else we also stopped by a Borders and Half Price Books to browse. We'll likely stop by Borders again in a couple weeks when the sales are a bit more than 10%. We stopped for lunch at China Bear, one of our favorite buffet places. They always have lots of favorites plus new stuff. We were so stuffed and on a time limit since it was before the movie that we didn't even get to the dessert section. After a bit of running around though we were ready for a cool treat and stopped in at Piccomolo's Italian Ice Cream. Delicious! I think next year for the 4th we'll hit up Firehouse Subs next door to them and then Piccomolo's before going to the park for fireworks.

Dinner:
Sunday night I ran off to have dinner with a friend and bonus surprise guest! I love talking with them and it was a great night. Lynn stayed home to be there when Miss Kid was dropped off. I had the chicken Alfredo and then we all split a huge slice of chocolate cake. It was wonderful to relax and talk with friends.

Limited Art Sale:
zhent  is still having his very limited time art sale. There are some absolutely fantastic shots in his Flickr. I've even gone through and posted a few of my favorites. Please stop by and take a look, either at his LJ, his Flickr, or some of the ones I highlighted. Starving artists need food too.

Personals Ad:
I was actually pretty serious about finding Lynn a SSO. Distance is of course a bit of a factor but we're willing to at least consider things. Though I will say it's hell finding people he can even chat with since he's at work so much and really only has time late at night to be online. If you're interested feel free to leave a comment on that post, it's screened.

*Note: At the time of this posting LJ is dealing with a DDoS attack and may be unreachable in terms of those links.