I've been drawn

My brand is strong.

First Class Flying

Don't need much to make me happy on a plane...though a little more elbow space would be nice.

Vacation knitting

When in doubt, pack all the yarn.  And the yarn ball winder.  You never know when you might encounter something to unravel.

Be prepared

Always keep your knits about you.  You never know when the train might be delayed.

The beginning

Happiness is - starting a new shawl.  Love the yarn, love the pattern.  Looking forward to watching it grow into the beautiful piece I know it will be!

5 of 12: Color Affection

Back in February, I underwent a small shoulder surgery.  Faced with a week of recovery, but the prospect of low dexterity and reduced mental prowess, I queued up Color Affection by Veera Välimäki (ravelry).  While I am normally not a fan of garter stitch, this pattern offered a very cool effect for very little mental effort.  Just keep knitting, just keep knitting...

Now, you many notice the colors.  I'm not the best at matching, so one evening I called the Boy into the yarn lair.  I had picked out a deep cranberry, heather slate, and a bright white.  "What do you think of this combo?  I think it looks classy," says I.  Deadpan look.  "Liz....that's scarlet and gray."  And so, I knit up an accidental tribute to my alma mater. 

The wingspan on this is huge - I can wrap it around myself three times with room to spare.  A project like this would have normally have taken me at least 4-6 weeks...but being couch-bound I breezed through it in 8 days!

I would be remiss not to mention that I received support on this project from my dedicated assistant, Dot.

4 of 12: mystery project

As shawl #4 is going to be a gift, it has to stay hidden for a little while.  However, here's a little teaser:

This project was my first foray into beaded knitting.  I love the effect and can't wait to use beads on another one of my 2012 shawls.