Helloooooo?



Is anyone still here???

The problem with not blogging for long periods of time is that you end up having lots to say when you do finally get around to blogging.

There was some totally insane knitting, there was a fair, there were some ribbons, there was a quick jaunt to the beach and there was (gasp) some crocheting!

To start, I finally finished my Spring Blossoms Shawl.




Spring Blossoms Shawl
Pattern Source: Fiber Trends
Yarn: Jaggerspun 2/18 Wool in Admiral
Needles: Addi Turbo Lace needles US 4

Mods: Only did 8 pattern repeats instead of 9

I was determined to finish this in time for the Howard County Fair, and I succeeded. Barely.
My friend picked me up to go drop stuff off at the fair at 2 p.m. I pulled the last blocking pin out at 1:55 p.m.

Insane Knitting. I killed my hands working on this thing. I had to take a knitting hiatus just to give my poor hands a break. Fortunately, I don't seem to have done any permanent damage!

But I am proud to say that the "shawl that almost ended my knitting career" took second place at the county fair! Hooray!! I actually won three ribbons at the fair this year.



See that in the middle there? That is my very first blue ribbon! I am so proud! Arabelle the Ant took first place in the knitted toys category.



I agonized for days over which of my knitted toys to enter. I guess I picked the right one!

The Embossed Leaves socks took a second place ribbon too. I had some stiff competition from Jolene again this year. She cleaned up with four blue ribbons and one red ribbon. And Ms. Amie won many fabulous prizes for being Best In Show for her Sock Ness Monsters. I have some pretty talented friends!

All of my entries to the county fair will be sent off to the Maryland State Fair next week. In addition, I am entering my Arwen Sweater, my Triceratops, and all the farm animals. There is a special category this year where you can enter anything farm, fair, or Maryland related. So, I knit a barn (no pictures yet!) and I'm putting the barn and the animals all together and submitting them. I think it is going to be super cute. The barn turned out lumpy, but still pretty awesome. I admit to being slightly tempted to knit some more farm related things to add to my farm. There are so many possibilities!

After my pain induced knitting hiatus, I was itching to cast-on for a new project, despite the fact that there a few older projects that could be completed! Since knitting was making my hands hurt, I decided to do a little crocheting instead. I saw this bag (link opens a pdf file) in an email that I got from Classic Elite. I fully intended to show you a picture of my progress, but I just realized I left it in my car, so it will have to wait. I'm doing it in a really pretty green. I think the yarn is Tahki, and not Classic Elite. I have done much ripping on this project and I'm still not happy with my row joins, but hopefully it will turn out ok. Even with all the ripping, it's going fairly quickly.

To wrap this post up, I'll share a few pictures from my most recent trip to the beach. I got to escape for a couple days. It was way too short of a trip!





P.S. For those who asked... My Dad did finally get his HP book! Would you believe that he managed to get someone from the post office to come out to the house on a Saturday afternoon to rescue it for him?! I'm sure he's read it at least twice by now!