Well, I am pleased to let you all know that the first ball went further than I thought it would. I sat and knitted, wanting to finish up the ball, and see just how far it went.
It went on and on and on and on. All the way to the end of row 59 of the border.

There are 90 rows in the border, and they are decreasing in length. That’s good news. Here’s what the shawl currently looks like. (This is roughly one repeat.)

Looking pretty good, huh?
The bad news is that I definitely do not have enough yarn. Well, according to my rather sad mathematical skill. There are around 200,000 stitches in the entire shawl, and I’ve done around 27,000. I think I need around 7 and a half balls, and I have six.
When I ordered the yarn, around two years ago, I got it pretty cheap becasue it was advertised on the Jamieson & Smith website as a discontinued colour. But the ballband just says “White”.
So I called them up and ordered two more balls of white. Let’s hope it’s a half decent match. If not, I think I’ll finish the shawl and throw the whole lot into the dyepot.
I’ve changed from my Inox needle to a KnitPicks circular needle that I ordered from Donni. (BTW, it’s Donni’s brthday tomorrow, pop on over and wish her a Happy one!)
I love this needle! I’m not finding it too slippery at all, the cord is fantastically flexible and the join is nice and smooth. I’ve also ordered an Addi lace needle from the US for comparison purposes, but taking into consideration how much more expensive the Addi is, it’d have to be really good to be any comparison.
I’ve been working on my other projects, too. The Sirdar cardi is growing, but I’ll save that for another day. The Opal sock is growing too.

I’m really liking this pattern with this yarn. (It’s the Garter Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks)
Twinkie’s feeling undignified.

No wonder she hates to be picked up!

Plugging away. Here is a picture of a finished Shetland Shawl.

The black mark shows roughly how much I have done.

That’s what’s left of the first ball of yarn, out of six. See why I’m worried?
And for those who are curious about cobweb weight, here is a strand of cobweb next to a strand of Opal sock yarn. (Fingering weight or 4 ply).

Pretty fine, huh? It’s no so bad now that I’m used to it, in fact I’m quite enjoying it.
Remind of that when I’m whining about it and still knitting it in 6 month, okay?
For those who are interested, Bendigo Woollen Mills have finally got off their butts and get themselves a website.
Depending on the yarn you prefer this could be a good thing. It’s great value for basic yarns, and it’s all natural fibres. And the balls are 200g, so you get loads in each ball. Some of the colours are a bit wishy-washy.
If you’re after sock yarn and suitable lace yarn though, you’re out of luck.

Saturday Sky.

Saturday ground.

Raining again!
Startitis. It’s biting, big time. The cobweb shawl is continuing, I’ve done 31 out of 90 border rows.

I’m getting a bit worried about whether I’m going to have enough yarn. The end of the first ball is in sight, and I only have 6 balls. I actually have 100 yards more than the pattern calls for, but if I’m already running out of the first ball, that can’t be good, can it?
And the yarn was bought as an end-of-line colour from Jamieson & Smith.
I could be in trouble.
The Sirdar cardi. The back is past the armholes.

Sometimes I just love a quick knit.
And because I finished the Mother’s Day socks, I started a new pair.

The yarn is Opal Prisma, and yes, those are my Polar Bear pj’s. My old ones. Millers has new ones!
I’m using the Garter Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. It’s hard sometimes to find a pattern that compliments self stripng yarn, isn’t it? And I have quite a substantial little pile of self striping sock yarns.
Now I’m off to SnB for the afternoon. Is there a better way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon??

Today, Ailsa and I went on a road trip. Well, of sorts. We went to visit my Not So local Yarn Store, The Wool Inn at Penrith.
The Wool Inn is about an hour or so from me, and Ailsa had already driven about 45 minutes, which is why it’s the Not-So-Local.
We wandered around a bit and had a looky-see and a touchy-feel at all the lovely new yarns. I was good, all I picked up was this.

Two balls of Zarina, for a pair of Beaudelaires.
Then we got talking to Anita, the lovely owner of the store, and she started pointing out some of her new things. Like the Fiber Trends patterns.

And only $AU6. I tried to stop there, but then I saw this on the wall behind the counter.

I’ve been thinking about a black lace cardi for a while, and this one just leapt out at me. And the yarn for it was a great price, and I only needed 3 balls. And Anita had only 3 balls of black in stock. I told myself it was fate, and that followed me home too.

Now I am a Yarn Snob. I’ll be the first to admit it.
This stuff is an Ackrylic blend. 70% Ackrylic in fact. But it really doesn’t feel like it.
Sirdar “Blur” in black, 70% acrylic, 30% mohair. And as you can see, I have no restraint, I’ve already cast on.
And in fact, I’ve already ripped it out once, and it’s a bitch to frog, like most mohairs.
That’s it, I managed to stop there. Finally.
But I have a finished object to show! (Does that make up for it?)

The Mother’s Day socks are done.
Specs: Generic 64st top down socks, K3, P1 rib
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM in P308
I’m happy with them, and I hope my Mother in law will be. I sneakily found out her foot size by checking her shoe size while we at the beach over Christmas. So I hope they fit, because her foot is smaller than mine and I can’t check!

It’s raining. That’s actually really good news.
Twinkie doesn’t think so.

Every now and then she looks out the door to check if it’s stopped yet.
Yesterday was back to school, but I had canteen duty all day, so I didn’t get the nice quiet day I’ve been longing for. So the rain today is perfect. I’m going to sit on my butt with the television and my shawl and knit until Em’s bus gets in.
The shawl is progressing nicely.

13 border rows done, and the best bit of this part is that I’m decreasing. Here’s a close up.

I’m actually really enjoying this, there’s very little repetition, which is what usually bores me. So far so good, but I’m not quite sure what will happen when I have to do it three more times!