Sunday, March 25, 2012

FO: Beach Glass Spectra

First things first: Izzy is recovering nicely from her sprained wrist — phew! Thanks for all the well wishes. Now on to the knitting. Remember that rut I mentioned about a month ago?


Pattern: Spectra by Stephen West
Yarn: Noro Taiyo Sock (S8)
Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light (Antique Lace)


Well, I decided to embrace said rut when I couldn't wait to cast on another shawl the minute I finished up this one. Yep, I signed up for the the 12 shawls in 2012 challenge. Crazy? Perhaps.


And for those keeping track of my  New Year's "three new techniques" challenge, I'm counting this Spectra and its short rows as #2 down. Sure, I did a few short rows when making those holiday Malabrigo loafers. But here I worked on learning how to conceal the wraps — thinking of Cat Bordhi and her excellent tutorial each time I lifted a "yarn necklace" (all 500+ of them).

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The St. Paddy's Day that Was

While I take a photo of Izzy every St. Patrick's Day* this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.


The day started off just fine. We got to the ice rink early for her private makeup lesson (Izzy's competing in the Santa Fe Skatefest this May for the first time and we had to reschedule Thursday's session after her coach hurt her knee). They started putting Izzy's program to music for the first time and the kiddo got in an extra 1/2-hour practice. Then a break before the warmup session and her group lesson.

Five minutes before class started, Izzy fell hard on her wrist.

We spent the next 3+ hours at Urgent Care, where thankfully there was a volunteer manning the gift shop so Izzy got the above string cheese and some other ala carte lunch items while we waited. Even though it meant having to cancel our lunch and hanging out in Old Town with Jane and Nina, I'm still looking upon the day as fairly lucky — it's only a sprain, not a fracture or break. Phew!

Today is a movie and nap day for Izzy. And while I'd hoped to blog my finished Spectra, it's only just now blocking and will have to wait until next weekend for a photoshoot with my recovered model. In the meantime, here's a snapshot of the latest WIP — taken quickly this am while there was some sun and before the Grapes of Wrath winds (40 mph gusting to 67 mph) picked up and starting turning everything a dusty brown and will most likely succeed in blowing the blossoms off the trees. Ahhh, spring in Albuquerque.


* Izzy's birth mother's birthday is March 17. Each year I take a photo of Izzy as a way of honoring her and keeping her in our thoughts.