Things I Forgot To Tell You

I can't believe I forgot to tell you that the contest winner will be announced Sunday morning, June 1st.

Or that a new contest will begin Sunday afternoon!

And I also can't believe I forgot to tell you that the very plain, very simple Fiesta La Boheme "Famous" shawl that I knitted for my friend Kali at Christmas went on a little trip to Cleveland last month. Kali and I were both a little miffed that the shawl racked up more frequent flyer miles this year than we have.

Here's the back story: I hadn't been checking into Ravelry very often at all (not much point when you're not knitting and you're not typing) but something drew me in one day in early April and I found a message from a lovely woman named Jaime from KNITTING DAILY TV. She wanted to know if the Famous Shawl would like to make a guest appearance on their new PBS knitting show!

Yes, the shawl. Not the knitter! Not the recipient! We were insanely jealous but that didn't stop The Shawl from jumping on the nearest Fed Ex plane and jetting off to Ohio for a little bright lights, big city action.

If you scan these photos, you'll see the shawl draped over a table in the middle of a whole lot of other shawls.

PBS will begin running KNITTING DAILY TV sometime in July. I don't know when this episode will appear but Kali and I are both very happy for The Shawl. Who knows? Maybe The Shawl will become a star and we can say we knew her when.

I can see the headlines in PEOPLE Magazine now: Garter Stitch Shawl Makes Good.

I just hope Kali and I get 10% of the gross . . .

The Famous Fiesta La Boheme Shawl

That's the pattern's name: The Famous Shawl. What it really is is The Embarrassingly Easy Shawl. Garter stitch all the way, baby. Alaska colourway. Big bad-ass needles. One YO per row.

And considering the way Fiesta Starburst La Boheme fought me, that was more than enough. If you haven't worked with La Boheme, it's actually wonderful yarn and gorgeous in the fibery flesh but it has a quirk that can drive a knitter nuts. LB is two separate strands of yarn: one mohair blend, one sparkly rayon. Which is all just fine. I mean, who hasn't knitted with two strands before, right? Well, the thing is the two strands of La Boheme don't play nice together. The mohair likes to run away from the rayon and before you know it you have an eighteen inch loop of extra mohair wrapped around the nicely-tensioned rayon. Yes, you fall into a rhythm of smoothing and straightening but it's incredibly annoying and I think it would be problematic in a more intricate pattern.

Then again, maybe it's just me . . .

Anyway, the shawl reached its new owner today on her birthday and we're both delighted!

Yarnapalooza Winner Lucky #13!

So much for triskaidekaphobia. Friday the 13th is Shanzi Pruitt's lucky day! Congratulations, Shanzi: you're our Yarnapalooza Winner #13.

Suddenly I'm a knitting fool. I don't know what's come over me but I'm living, breathing, dreaming knitting this week. Work continues on the baby sweater. I think I'll be at the divide front from back point on Saturday which means I'll get to introduce a complementary color. I can't wait. I tracked down what I think will be the perfect yarn for the purpose and am eager to see how it works.

The cataloguing/organizing continues after a ten day break. I found the Fiesta La Boheme -- Alaska colourway -- that I'd purchased to make a shawl for someone extremely special and fell in love with it all over again. I think I'm going to cast on for it next week.

And then there's the Outback Mohair still (now and forever) in progress. And I'm almost embarrassed to admit that my embargo on sock knitting probably won't last the month. I'm missing it terribly but this time I'm going to cast on something bright, colorful, and FOR ME!

To be continued . . .