Because I can't leave well enough alone...

After I finished my shawl--you know, the one on which I became a knitter--I had to start another one right away. I had a yummy rainbowy skein of Noro that I bought last November just waiting to be loved.

The trouble is, my knitting buddy, Edna, mentioned this class on Continental knitting to me. She said that it's a much faster way to knit and she wanted to learn (unfortunately, the class was full). Suddenly, all around me everyone was knitting with the yarn in their left hands (my knitting books admonishes to not call it "European" or "Continental" knitting, because not all European countries knit this way)--a woman at work, my sister-in-law, a family friend, while here I was wasting all this energy with my right hand looping my yarn around and back.

So, of course, I had to join the crowd, and another shawl was the perfect project for lots of knitting and purling practice. Let me tell you, it's not faster. Especially when you stick your knitting in a bag and ignore it for weeks. And when you actually have to pay attention to your stitches (wait, is that one twisted?) so you can't knit while watching TV. That shawl was growing very, very slowly (doesn't help that I'm not that drawn to knitting in the summer; and that the first pair of colors was red and blue which is not my favorite combination--call me unpatriotic).

I dug it out a couple of weeks ago, once again inspired to get things moving. I put it in a basket, so that I can see it, and sit down and sneak a row in here or there (and the left-handed thing? Really not so hard, except on the purl rows). I'm finally getting into some more exciting colors, too, which is nice.

I need to get moving on this, you see, because I have plans. Big plans.

Yes, indeed, I am finally going to take the plunge and try my hand at a sweater. A luscious, tangeriney-pumpkiny sweater (I believe it's actually called "nasturtium"). I know. Exciting. Scary. About fr*akin' time. Oh yes, and there's a little ball of cashmere there too, just because it's so soft (and was half price). So lots of work to do...time to get busy!