Shawl Knitting, Fair Isle and Eggs

No progress pictures in this post - sorry, no time lately for taking any. But at this rate I will be done with the Shadow Shawl by the end of the week anyway, so I may never take any progress pictures. This is a FAST knit folks. Despite the super fiddly start which I had to rip and restart three times - after that it's all been a breeze. The shawl is knit from end to end and I think I will get to the midpoint tonight! After that it's all downhill as the stitch count starts to reduce. I've only been knitting on this for three days. Fast, fast. fast!

I love the way it's looking so far and I already started thinking of other color combinations which would look good. That's a fair sign that I am enjoying this knit. I think my prior experience with illusion knitting has helped - it's always easier when you can visualize what is going on as you are working. But this is my first picot experience (wow! I never imaginged it was so easy - why did I avoid picots for so long?) and the first time I have done a chainstitched edge this way. I like the look of that so much I'm totally going to try to use it in a future shawl. How is everyone else getting along? I know there are acouple of other people knittig this shawl right now.

I joined the Tudor Roses KAL (see sidebar for link) and I think I would like to knit the Catherine Parr sweater. Problem is I emailed a few questions to Virtual Yarns several days ago and haven't heard back yet. So I am starting to question buying the kit from them. I try to keep an open mind but I have heard so many negative things about She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (but it rhymes with Palace Farmore), I'm starting to wonder if the lack of customer service is just another symptom of a larger problem. :( Anyhow, I will probably give it a few more days and then go to one of the other sources.

My frustration with getting a response from Virtual Yarns is probably what led me to buy this:



Well, the 15% off sale didn't hurt either. ;) It's called Luckenbooth Broach and is by Ron Schweitzer. I love the colors, shaping and overall pattern on this one. It is listed as being for the experienced knitter because the pattern repeats are so large. Sometimes I wonder if I'm plum crazy and this is one of them. The only colorwork I have ever done is a small headband for Princess Ariel. I guess I have faith I will be able to do the more advanced stuff. I hope so, because I have bunches of great fair isle kits waiting to be knit!

In other news, the finches have five eggs now. They laid four and then left them for several days. I was about to give up on them when another egg appeared today. So now we are back to wait and see mode. I'm thinking they don't like the nest set up that they have now so I've ordered them some sisal to make things more cozy in their little boxes. Godric especially looks frustrated that he has a ready made nest. He really wants to do some building I can tell.