Such a lovely weekend.

I did finish Friday, the knitting part only, but that is always such a exciting thing to complete!  I had to stay up late, till the painfully late hour of 9:00 p.m., but I told myself no computer till the work was done.  I adulted and forced myself to complete the last 6 rows.  Saturday morning at the much too early hour of 5 a.m., I sat down to put it together. 

The very important front and back seams are complete.  It looks really great.   I still have the sides to do, and I have to confess I am waffling about the arm opening.  I think what I have to do is sew up the sides and leave a long tail on the sewing thread and wear it for a bit as I type, as I knit, as I do ordinary things where I reach and put.  That way, I will know if I can close it up more or less and find the perfect nonbinding sleeve opening size.

I have one more day till Tuesday.

After that success, I got out my lovely Icelandic shawl, which I have not touched since July last year.  It had an issue with the lace that I couldn't sort out.  It never seemed to matter how much I went back, there was always some kind of problem, one stitch too many, one stitch too few.  I went back a couple rows but kept coming back to the same trouble.  Sunday morning, I pulled back all the lace that was already complete.  The really interesting bit was that as I was doing it row by row (only 8 rows), I found where the trouble was!  On row 1. 

With that out of the way, I could sit down and do this which got me back right to where I was, but it looks right this time, not mostly right.  Or it will when it is blocked.

As I knit, I had the chance to really appreciate the delicate colours of Einband.  There is just nothing else like it. 

This design is from the book Three-Cornered and Long Shawls, Dýrfinnustaðahyrna með blúndu.    Just picking up that book makes my head dream all sorts of dreams of shawls future.  My ultimate goal is a Thordis Shawl.  It has 9 colours making up it's rich yet softly shifting natural colourscape.  I think I am short a colour or two so eventually...

Besides all the dreaming, I did a little prosaic knitting too.  I really need another pair of arm warmers for bedtime wear.  These have made such a difference to my knitting.  My hands rarely have that milld generic ache they did before.  Yes turning up the heat a wee bit in the house helped, but the warmers still make a huge difference.  

I am still not past this rich golden rusty bit, but as you can see there is a rich vibrant violet in the offing.  While I need them, there isn't any rush.

I think I am going to dig out my really pretty lace sometime this week, the stuff that excites me when I think about knitting it.  The Einbnad, the Isager Spinni Wool 1, the Shetland Ultra.  A little dreaming while I knit that lovely lovely mohair and Adam and Eve Elton sounds like just the thing.

And soon to come, combing season on the back deck and the front drive.  Warm and a bit protected on a sunny day, it is lovely, even early in spring.  And there is a lot to comb and card.  Plus...well, we'll talk about that tomorrow.