Shirl the pearl

I snapped these bathroom pics on Sunday night.  I worked on "Shirley Shrugs" during every spare moment of the weekend.  At the lunch break on Saturday, I ran to Zuppa’s for lunch, then walked down to the shop to buy two hanks of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd’s Sock for my Socktoberfest socks (my only purchase of the weekend!), and went straight back to the seminar venue and got right to work.  I sat out the break between end of Saturday classes and dinner in the "hospitality room" doing the same, and lunch on Sunday was a rinse-and-repeat of Saturday (except for Zuppa’s and the yarn).  I was asked about it on occasion and I’d roll my eyes and called it "my penance."  It’s all paid off, though, and there are fewer than 20 rows to go as of last night.  Margene’s words have been echoing in my head: "…do what you can do… want to do it all… it’s still only one stitch at a time."  She might have said something about some sort of process, too.  ; )

Oh, my, is this ever nice around the shoulders.  The short rows worked wonderfully, just as I’d hoped, and I’m excited to finish the knitting and fool around with the closures — probably from cuff to elbow or just above.  What I’ve got cooking in my mind’s eye — an optional closure at each end so that it may be worn closed as a shrug or open as a shawl, but without looking "unbuttoned," so that the closures have to be a decorative element, or… this makes me laugh… you might even say an "embellishment."  You know, I’m going to have to admit that I’ve had a few fuzzy thoughts about what I might like to do, but the inspirational clarity comes from one of Fiona’s swatches.

Did I mention that I love Fiona Ellis?  ; )

If I wasn’t so bored, I’d knit another one of these for myself.  Perhaps I will one day — I actually have a start on one because it wasn’t long after getting going on this that I could see the writing on the wall — lots of writing (longhand) on a very big wall — so I started another in a bulkier, woolier yarn and I really tried to sell it to Mom as being more preferable, but she didn’t buy it.  I sometimes think that she might have gone for it if I’d made a larger swatch, but actually… I know my mother… she would have said, "Knit both and I’ll choose," or (more likely) "Knit both and I’ll take both!"  Heh.  Katie wants one, too.  I love her dearly, but she can knit her own.  I’ve learned many things by knitting Shirley Shrugs, and probably the most important is that I won’t be knitting anything for anyone (except perhaps wee Mack) for Christmas this year — and maybe not next year, either.  ; )

So it wasn’t a very happy day for Packers fans yesterday.  I gambled in the Fantasy game and lost big.  I’ll tell you who I’m happy for today, though, and it’s Charlie Pena.  I cried my way through the pre-game feature on "Coach Charlie" last night — my eyes weren’t truly clear and dry ’til mid-way through the first quarter — and I had the same feeling that I did during Super Bowl XXXII.  If we lost, it would be okay in a cosmic sense because Charlie would be so happy, the perfect seal for his wish, just as it was "right" that John Elway won that Super Bowl game.  Sometimes, it’s all about the warm-fuzzies — yeah, is my competitive streak showing?  ; )

As found at Mason-Dixon Knitting:  I’ve sent my foot measurements to Cat Bordhi, have you?

Still to come:  Katie’s "new" car.  Socktoberfest details.