Like the start of this shawl, I started the week a little rumpled and out-of-sorts.  So Monday’s tidying-up post became Tuesday’s tidying-up post, and now here we are, on Wednesday morning, finally posting.  Ever have one of those weeks?

I survived the PINK-ness. As I had hoped, the unbridled exuberance of the color was a good match for the unbridled exuberance of its eight-year-old recipient, who paused long enough to try the cowl on. Two seconds later, she was back in power-unwrapping mode, and didn’t even notice her aunt trying on the cowl, adjusting it just so. Lamentably I did not take FO pictures: you will have to take my word for it that the Sallah Cowl pattern is quite enjoyable to knit. I will not lie to you and say it’s a super quick knit, because it is essentially a scarf with the edges sewn together, and scarves are not fast knits. Full disclosure: I skipped the i-cord edging. If I had had more time, or more patience, I would have taken it on: it does look nice. But the world didn’t end when I skipped it.

And what do you know–it was a Knit American project!

The shawl you see above is much more my speed: Annis in the last of my yarn purchased during my first visit to Seattle, almost three years ago (!). It hasn’t progressed much lately, because two other projects are occupying far more of my attention:

First: Gothic Arches, knit in the Northanger Abbey pattern, beret version. Here we have some Dream in Color Smooshy that has been in my stash since I knit Hermanita a shawl with some yarn purchased in Seattle and needed a smidge more than one skein to finish the picot edging. Somewhere around round 24, I goofed and started knitting the second twist all the way around. I didn’t notice until round 29.

Yes, tinking out 5 long rounds in black fingering weight yarn is as unpleasant as it sounds. Watching the little twisted stitches in the pattern loop back and forth is great fun, though, so I am already past the point where I found my error and eagerly knitting along.

When I have the time to really, really look at my knitting, I am working on a Wallpaper Cowl as part of the Holla Knits knitalong. Talk about needing to pay attention: the cowl has a Fair Isle pattern with two very loooong repeats, which means lots of counting background stitches between pattern stitches. I, in my infinite wisdom, chose to knit this out of some yummy yummy fuzzy yarns that have been in my stash since England, and began the Fair Isle set up row while watching the climax of Fast and Furious 6. (No, I don’t really like movies like that. It began as an opportunity to rant about how all the women in the movie are young and buff and race cars while their hair is perfectly styled and their tank-tops plunge, then turned into a sort of horrified fascination with the special effects.) Yeah, that was a bad idea too. I ripped out the same round twice before noticing that the round below it was totally wrong, at which point I stepped away from the crazy-box and actually read the chart.

I am really happy to have three projects-in-progress that use yarn I love and patterns that are keeping me well-entertained. What is on your needles this Wednesday?