Project Roundup!

This has been a bit overdue. In looking back in the posts, I keep promising a knitting update, so here it is.

But first, a few photos from the 4th. A bunch of the boat owners on our lake have a boat parade late morning on the holiday, so we turned out to the beach with a few friends and some refreshments to watch.

Here's John opening the refreshments. There were also Bloody Marys (Maries?) involved.

The parade:

There was knitting going on. My boss is learning how to knit. I gave her the first lesson Wednesday morning. Yes, I know how lucky I am, having a boss that wants me to teach her to knit.

And here is the promised Project Roundup. These are the 3 projects in active rotation. First is the sock.

Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't made much progress. There have been other things interfering. For those of you not paying attention, this is the German yarn, the Wollmeise Krauterbeet. I just love the color name, Krauterbeet. It's much more purple and green than in that photo. This is just lovely yarn, which is a good thing. Since I had to order it all the way from Germany, I couldn't just order one hank of it, now, could I. Some day I'll show you the rest of it fermenting in the stash.

Next is the Forest Canopy shawl. I really have made progress, it's just hard to tell, being a lace shawl and all. This is Zephyr wool-silk, in Bottle Green. I thought it was Basil, but I'm pretty sure it's the former. I love this color enough to buy more of it.

This one's getting close. A couple more repeats of the main pattern is about all I will be able to stand, then it will be on to the border, then done.

Now, my new project. I am using South West Trading Company's Bamboo, in a color called Butter. The color is actually more like real bamboo than butter. If you've ever been unfortunate enough to have the stuff growing in your backyard, you know what it looks like. I can only hope bamboo yarn really takes off. I have a bunch of it growing wild along my side yard fence. It could be an investment.

Here's the first attempt. I am making a tee-shirt like top, though if I have enough  yarn, I'll put 3/4 length sleeves on it. I'm doing a picot/cable edging from one of the Nicky Epstein books for the bottom hem. The first version reminded me of chicken satay on skewers.

Then I had a little mishap and it ended up looking more like ramen noodles. The mishap had nothing to do with the pink wine in that photo. Since I'm making this one up as I go along, I didn't like the first iteration, and decided on a do-over.

And here's where I am now. The hem is turned up and pinned so you can see it. The edging is done by knitting 5 rows, doing a picot turning row, then knitting more rows, then a simple 4 stitch cable crossing all the way across.

I haven't quite come to a verdict on this yarn. It is listed on the ball band as a worsted weight, which isn't even close. I finally ended up with 3.25mm needles, and it measures out to be more like a DK or sport weight. Oh well, I really didn't want to wear it this summer, anyway.  It's making a lovely, drapey fabric at that gauge.

Off to bed, another fun-filled work week starts in the morning!