Some project updates:

I am on the LAST bit of the side section (the long panel with the "Flowers of the Forest") on the Hiawatha shawl. I estimate there's about 25" to go. And I'm a lot faster at the edging now that I have it memorized and don't have to even really keep track of what row I'm on.

I might finish this this week. Wow. I've been working on this since fall of 2004.

The feeling is not unlike the feeling I had as the defense of my dissertation approached (well, without the nagging fear of, "What if someone asks you a question that totally destroys your conclusions?").

It's making me excited to begin new projects.

I pulled out the Rowan "Summer Tweed" that I had in my stash (it's sort of an odd pale turquoise color; in the typical Rowan idiosyncratic naming system it's called "Exotic"). I've decided to start Cozy (no, I'm not abandoning the plan of starting the Landscape Shawl but Cozy is an easy pattern - no shaping, no increases or picots to keep track of - and I need something for proctoring-knitting). I'm going to start it this weekend and take it with me this week while I proctor. I think I'm going to write the lace pattern out on a 3x5 card because in one of the rooms, I really have to circulate (there's a ledge on the front of the desks and I wouldn't be able to detect cheating from just the front of the room). And I can just tuck the "cake" of yarn up under my arm and walk around the room, using the card as a reference for the pattern.

I had originally bought the yarn for a shrug but I think a shawl will be more useful to me. And more flattering on me (broad shoulders, large bosom - shrugs don't work so well). And it won't look dated once shrugs go out of fashion. (Shawls always look a little "dated" but that's okay with me; I don't mind looking anachronistic but I prefer my anachronisms to refer to an earlier time period than last year).

I also dug around and pulled out many balls of wool-ease (and a few of Canadiana) bought for projects I have since forgotten (scarves, hats, or socks, I presume, considering I have but one or two balls of each color).

I've started the crochet blanket. Darn, it's FUN! It's all just double crochets but there's no counting (once you're done with the initial chain), no shaping, you change colors every row...it's kind of like what people say about eating potato chips.* This will be a wonderful project for when I have five minutes (while waiting for tea to steep or something) or if I'm really tired or if I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.

Sadly, it is not a very portable project, with all those colors of yarn (unless I planned the colors needed for the next several rows and just took partial balls of those...)

(*Except I never liked potato chips well enough to keep eating them. I eat three or four - like if they're served alongside a sandwich - and then I'm like, "okay, I'm done.")

I also found some yarn that I'm going to use for the furry monster pattern I linked the other day. I had a ball of Garnstudio Pelliza in a deep blue-green color that came in a grab bag years ago and which I had never done anything with (once upon I time I had thought of making a "kid hat" with it as the brim, but that never materialized). Well, I also found a skein of Muskoka (yes, I have lots of old stuff in the stash) in Exactly. The. Same. Color. So that tells me they need to become the monster. (The pattern calls for knitting a strand of furry yarn together with a strand of plain, worsted-weight yarn)

Not sure what color I'm going to make its "knobbles" yet. Maybe a cream color - I think that would look kind of natty with the deep teal. (I'm also not sure if the monster's going to be a boy monster or a girl monster yet. And yes, you will be able to tell...girls have long eyelashes. [that was my childhood, innocent way of saying how girls were different from boys]).

I love my stash. I love that I can get an idea for a project, dig in, and find pretty much what I need (as long as it's basic worsted-weight). It makes having NO local yarn shops a little easier.