Smorgasbord

It's been about two weeks since I last posted, and surprisingly a lot has happened craft-wise.  I didn't think that it would be the case, seeing as how I've spent the last four days only stitching for about an hour in the evening after spending the rest of my waking time playing Final Fantasy 9.  But, alas! I got a few tools in the mail, I finished a thing, started a thing, dabbled in a few things, and continued knitting on other thing.

I suppose I should start with the finishing:

I finished my shawl!  It is So Scrummy! (blogger says this is not a word, but I assure you, it is).  It's soft and warm and the colors are lovely.  I love the way the singles yarn looks in lace and garter.  It was exactly the project I needed to do in this exact time in my life.  I love when things like this work out.  The pattern was really simple, especially when I counted off my sets of rows.  It was also both charted and fully written out, which I appreciate.  I'm totally a chart person but I know others are not as keen on charts as I am.

Since I bound off the shawl over a week ago, I've been working on and off on various things.  I do have my sweater going, but honestly not enough to warrant a new picture, I don't think.  My main project has probably been my socks, which last you saw were in horrible light and only a cuff. Now:

And actually currently I'm almost done the leg on the second sock.

Speaking of socks, I got a new tool in my arsenal this week!  I got some sock blockers!

Now, I am not one to block my socks other than washing and letting hang to dry.  But, I love the idea of using them as a prop for taking pictures. I had to go with a lovely hand-made pair from this etsy shop. 

 

and of course I wanted to try it out right away:

See?  Don't the socks look that much nicer now?  I don't know about that, but they are lovely lovely blockers.  I'm glad I waited for a pair that really sang to me.  Eventually I'll knit some patterned socks and the blockers will really show them off!

 Finally, I got a new charm pack last week and started cutting hexies!

 

 

Unfortunately, that's as far as I've gotten in that endeavor.  I am planning another hexie bag with embroidery on.  Probably a bee, possibly a sunflower.  Either way, it's going to house my current spinning WIP, which I've been working on a little here and there as well.  And While I'm here, blabbing on and on about what I've been working on, I might as well share a rare picture of me drop spindling:

The fiber is bare, with sparkle.  I'm planning on doing a three-ply for socks that I want to speckle with peppermint bark red for Christmas.  That means that I really need to get on it.  Socks only take me a few weeks to knit, but spinning for socks?  takes quite a bit longer.  I know I talked about eating a whale a few months ago, and to be honest, that double knit project fell off my radar as soon as moving was happening.  I was keeping track of a daily row count in my Bujo.  And I think that for April I'm going to do a daily spin tracker.  20-30 minutes should do it.

That really is all there is to speak of as far as crafting goes.  Husband and I went out to get some papers notarized yesterday (booooring) but what is NOT boring is that we are done with ALL the tasks we had to do before closing day on our house.  House is essentially sold.  Closing is early next week. I think that was causing a major block as far as taking pictures and making a blog post.  Stress is stressful, y'all!

Also, my face is not happy with all the pollen.  It needs to rain again to knock some of it out.  boy.

Anyway, on the way home, I was just dying from the loveliness.  Zac noticed me trying to grab a picture through the grubby car windows and he stopped on a little turn out so I could get the most beautiful pictures I've ever taken in my life.  I cannot believe how lucky we are that we live here:

 

I have said this a thousand times in the last few weeks but WE LIVE IN THE SHIRE NOW!  I cannot wait till we can buy a plot of land and start building a house on a piece of this gorgeousness.

Thanks for reading!  I plan to be back next week to update you all on my spinning progress, socks, and hopefully a few little hexies will be finished.  That is if I can pry myself away from Final Fantasy playing! XD

Cheers!