A few Shawls

I've been working on shawls lately. Not that that is anything new, of course, but I'm trying to get a lot made for Lexi and Rose to select from for their teachers at the end of the school year, and for my sister Pauline to to choose from when she visits this summer. Today, I took pictures of the ones I currently have. 

 I call this one Angel Wings. It is very simple. The stitch pattern (yarn over, knit one, knit 2 together) slants automatically. At the mid-point, I switched to the reverse (knit 2 together, knit one, yarn over), which slants in the other direction. The resulting shawl drapes very nicely in front.

 I did another one like it, but using two shades of green, alternating colors every two rows. The picture doesn't show it well, but one side is narrow stripes, and the other is mottled. Lexi likes the mottled side better; I think I do, too.

 This triangular shawl is rather small because I didn't have enough of the yarn to make it larger.

 This is the detail of the lace triangles in the above shawl.

 This fern lace pattern is much easier than it looks. The yarn is some acrylic, wool and mohair that I've had in my stash for several years; it feels wonderful!

 This is a small baby blanket or laprobe that was worked from the center out. It seems so different in the picture than in person!

This is basically a triangular shawl, but with short-row extensions on both sides after I reached the length I wanted for the center back. That makes it hang better in the front than if it were simply a triangle. I really like the Snowdrop Lace pattern I used. Upside down it looks like tulips rather than snowdrops. I'm thinking of doing a rectangular shawl in red with that pattern, working from the middle to each end.

 This one I'm still working on. I'm using 149 stitches and a size 15 circular needle. The scarlet yarn in the ball above the shawl is my 'foundation yarn,' I use another yarn along with it - a different one for each row, leaving several inches of the extra yarn at beginning and end to be fringe.

This type of shawl I work on only at home. I select the yarns and divide them into three groups - eyelash, other textures, and smooth. Then I lay them out on the floor beside my chair and select from each group in whatever sequence I decide on. This one is reds with a touch of black, but others have been all kinds of color combinations. People seem to like them, and it's a great way to use up leftover yarn.

Almost Spring

The winter wheat is up enough that the fields look like gigantic putting greens.

When I took paper and other burnables out to the burn barrel this morning, I noticed that the daffodils around my black walnut tree are four or five inches tall - they'll be blooming within a week, I think. I'm ready!

Brown is a lovely color.

About 99% of the snow is gone. On my drive this morning, I enjoyed seeing the browns, tans, and beiges of the fields and the dead grass and leaves. I drove very slowly down my driveway, watching the south-facing bank for daffodil leaves. Some of them are up about half an inch. The first ones will bloom before the end of this month, and next month they will be everywhere. I'm looking forward to that! Then they'll be followed by the forsythias, redbuds, dogwoods, lilacs. etc. And in July and August we'll complain about the heat!

More Snow

Wednesday morning, I went around the corner to pay my water bill and my annual fire department dues, and talked to the two ladies in that office. They said the roads were not good, and there was more snow forecast for the day. I then went to the local gas station and filled the tank and went home. I called and cancelled my appointments for the day. It did snow off and on all day. I guess our total accumulation this week is about six inches. I know that sounds like nothing to many people, but it's a lot for us. The roads were still pretty bad yesterday morning, so I stayed home again. However, today things were much better, and temperatures are predicted to be above freezing for the next few days.

After my radiation treatment this morning, I went to church to put some patterns in the knitting ministry closet. The Heartland Lace Guild was meeting there, so I spent some time with them. This is a group that does bobbin lace, which fascinates me. I belonged to the group for a couple of years, although I never tried to lace.

The roads are clear today.

When I was checking in at the radiation center, I asked how many others didn't make it in yesterday. One of the secretaries said that a lot didn't and that they already had a few cancellations for tomorrow. The forecast is for more snow tonight and tomorrow. I'll wait until morning to make the decision of whether to leave the house or not. I hope the roads are OK, because I have an appointment with the oncologist after the radiation treatment, and then I want to meet my knitting friends at the coffee shop. That knitting group is my main social event each week.

Snow!

I'm missing my treatment today because of snow. It's really coming down and blowing around. I called the radiation place and left a message that I'm not leaving my house today.

Lexi's cheerleading team at Nationals in Chicago this weekend. They won their division by default, but the grand championship went to an older group. This group is first through fifth graders. They are coming home today, due to arrive in Mayfield about 1:30 tomorrow morning. I hope the weather doesn't mess things up for them.

We have lights!

Actually, we've had them since Tuesday. The electrician will come back when it is not cold and raining to fix the problem, but for now he has disconnected something to make the rest of it work.

I had my eighth radiation treatment on my leg this morning - five more to go. I assume it's doing what it's supposed to; I can't feel any difference.

After leaving the hospital, I went to the Dollar General store in Lone Oak for a couple of things. After making my purchases, I sat in the car, knitting until about time for the schoolbus Lexi and the other cheerleaders were on to pass. When they did, I was standing on the sidewalk waving. I wonder is anyone noticed me. They were on their way to Carbondale IL to catch a train to Chicago for the national cheerleading competition. I sure hope the weekend goes well for them.

Then I drove about a mile up the street to the oral surgeon's office. I'm healing OK, but need to continue using the Peridex rinse at least twice a day. He'd really like me to use it three times a day. Sometimes I do, but sometimes it's only twice.