Saqqara Shawl and Yarn-Along

With all the excitement of getting my Liebster award post ready for yesterday, I have a bit of a backlog of blog photos.  I can finally go public with finished pictures of my Mayan Spring shawl that I finished last year.  This is a pattern called Saqqara, designed by Melinda Vermeer, a knitting buddy of mine, which I test knit.  It's great for showcasing handspun yarn.

So fun!  These are Melinda's pictures, not mine.  I should take photography lessons from her.  I'm through with shawl knitting for awhile after last year's marathon.  It's practical socks for me.

I've started some new socks for Steve.  These are from a Zauberball that I bought in Seattle last month, and they are knit on size 0 Addi Turbos, a gift from my knitting buddy Joyce, who prefers Magic Loop and long needles.  I like the Addis because they aren't too pointy, which causes problems when I use my right index finger to push the stitches along.  In the past I hated working with size 0's because of that, but these make it go fine.  Just very slow.  80 stitches circumference, so I'll be working on these awhile.  I love the gradual changes in the color.

I finished reading The Matters at Mansfield, by Carrie Bebris, part of a series which has Mr. and Mrs Darcy of Pride and Prejudice fame as amateur detectives.  For Austen fanfiction, this is well-written and entertaining although not pitch-perfect.  I felt that the author took too many liberties with Austen's characters to be fully believable.

Also on my reading stack is Socktopus by Alice Yu.  It has some nice sock patterns, most of them more complicated than my plain-Jane tastes.  But I'm giving serious thought to trying to adapt Farmer McGregor to toe-up style.  I think I could do it.

Linking up to the yarn-along so you can see what others are knitting.