Why Is It ...

As soon as I decide to dedicate myself to one project, I find a million other things that I want to make? Does that ever happen to you? I want to make socks, and hats and scarves for Christmas gifts, and I want to knit the Ishbel scarf because I have the perfect yarn for it. And I have lots of yarn I spun myself from the Tour de Fleece that needs to be put to use too.

I was content to work on Audra's wedding shawl, and it's a beautiful shawl too. See:

It's the Baltic Sea Stole by Faina Latoutchaia. It's fast - for a lace project - but it's a 32 row repeat for 13 sets and I've just begin the third set. It'll be beautiful when its done. I'm using Exquisite Silky Laceweight yarn from Fiddlesticks Knitting and it's as soft as butter, 50% mulberry silk/50% merino wool.

However, I was working on the Rivendell socks from Janel Laidman's book The Eclectic Sole but it takes up too much brain to work on the stole and that, so it got put aside. I love Janel's book! She has a new book coming out at the end of the month called The Enchanted Sole and if you pre-order the book from her site, you get a free mitten pattern. Tempting, tempting ... somebody hold me back!

And then I ordered a sock book from the UK called Socken aus aller Welt, and it's got the prettiest socks in the world in it. The problem is, it's in German, and since I don't speak German I had to enlist the help of my friend Monika (thank you!) so I'd at least know how many stitches to cast on.

How desperate does one have to be to order a book in a language they don't speak all because of the love of a sock? I should be banned from ordering online for a week.

OK, I think I got it all off my chest. I'm going back to the shawl now.