Color Affection

No baby socks on the needles. Instead I have cast on a Color Affection (because I am late jumping on any bandwagon ...?). From left to right the colors are Thyme, Night Bloom, and Composition Book Gray. All in Tosh Sock, of course. What do you think?

A local yarn store is discontinuing all their Tosh yarns, and so they are on sale at 20% off. I stopped by "just to look" and ended up taking home the middle skein. I've had the other two for a while, and when I put them next to each other it just seemed meant to be.

When I took Michael into the store with me, I made sure to hold him so he didn't run around and wreak havoc. He was so excited and kept waving his pointer finger around saying "Yarns! Yarns! Yarns!"

Right now he's upstairs in his crib, decidedly not napping (but also not throwing a temper tantrum, so that's good). We've been doing a lot of cuddling and reading lately. By naptime there are always at least a dozen board or picture books scattered around the living room. As for me, I am still trucking through Anna Karenina. Now that I am so far through (75%) I will be kind of mad if I don't finish it before the babies are born. :-P

Linking up with Ginny.

An endless edge ...

I have been really bad about responding to blog comments lately so I just want to say THANK YOU to all those who commented last week with protein suggestions. I've been getting a little better with my eating habits during the day. It does make a difference. That and (yes) coffee. Seriously, the other day I had all this energy and patience and was thanking God for the grace and then I realized it was also the caffeine (just an 8oz cup) ... I think that caffeine and grace are not always mutually exclusive. ;)

Thank you also to those who commented on my "Process" post about my anxieties over the twins' birth ... now that the initial shock is over, I am back to living my daily life in such a way that those worries aren't as present. Your comments were so very helpful and supportive ... thank you again.

(Speaking of the twins ... the night before last Keith was able to feel one of them kick from the outside! So exciting!)

It is so frustrating right now to not be able to knit for these babies yet! We are on a tightish budget right now until Keith starts his job next month, so no yarn money. Instead I've been tackling some shawls that I've been meaning to knit with special skeins in my stash. Right now I'm working on Rock Island in Tosh Lace. The color is Tart.

Please pardon the clutter in the background!

I think that has to be one of the best colors ever, and most aptly named.

This shawl starts with the edging. 71 repeats of the edging. I've been knitting since Saturday and am on repeat 41. Ugh. I've finally memorized the pattern and that helps a LOT, but it didn't happen until around repeat #30, and knitting those eight short rows over and over from a chart was so tedious. I'm hoping to finish by tomorrow, though.

I'll probably finish the book tomorrow, also. And then it's time for a break from the world of Westeros.

Linking up with Ginny.

I shall not be dismayed ...

... by other knitters' intense dislike of nupps.

For non-knitters (or just non-nuppers), a nupp is when you increase my knitting multiple times into the same stitch--usually making five or seven stitches out of one--and then on the next row you knit or purl all those stitches together. If you have the wrong needles, or your stitches are too tight, or the yarn is slippery, it can be pretty difficult to get all those stitches knit together.

Which is why so many people hate them, including my mother. :) I had a bit of a hard time with them on my Annis, but then I got the hang of them a little ... and no, they didn't look the best, but practice makes perfect, right? And while the Raspberry Dream stole didn't have *nupps*, it did have k7tog which is pretty darn nupp-like--and I had no trouble with it.

So.

Now for my real reason for posting:

My two choices for my bridal shawl are the Swallowtail and Echo Flower shawls. Which should I do? (Imagine them in teal. :) )

I want to cast on today or tomorrow but I can't decide ... so I'm gathering opinions.