Yep, this shawl edging is going to take some time to complete. I am at this point just about one-third the way through it.

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I thought I’d get a lot more done yesterday afternoon, but instead I spent most of the day lying on the couch in a fugue of semi-consciousness.

Not that it wasn’t an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Particularly with a warm purring kitty draped over one.

Anyhow, it’ll likely take me the rest of the week to finish the edging. It’s pretty mindless knitting, which is good for parking oneself in from of the television and watching movies while knitting. But I am anxious to start my next project, which will be knit with this:

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Any guesses what that will become? (Hint: It is not the obvious choice . . . )

To distract you from my boring knitting, look at these.

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These are Knitting Note Cards, available for purchase here. You can purchase printed cards with envelopes, or pay for a pdf download and print your own cards. The card has a photo of a lace pattern on the front and the instructions for knitting the pattern on the back. They are blank inside. Pretty cool, eh? There are three different series available for sale, and all are pictured on the website.

In the “Here’s Something You Don’t See Everyday” Department

Seen outside my office window this afternoon.

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At least they aren’t pink.

Lucy is singularly unimpressed.

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Lucy and I are spending a quiet Easter Sunday at home. It’s rather chilly outside, so we are hunkered down on the couch. One of us is knitting, the other purring in her sleep.

I have just started the border pattern on my shawl.

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I ended up doing one less repeat of the body pattern then I had planned because I think the extra repeat would have made it too long I’ve got 42 rows of border pattern planned, and as there are eleventy-billion stitches per row, it will take me a while to complete.

But I’m in no hurry.

Here’s a special little Easter movie for you all. No expense was spared in the making of it, as you can see from the wonderful production values. Bloglines readers, there is a video embedded here.

Oh, and it is kinda loud, so you might wanna turn down the volume if you are in a public place.Lucy sez:

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“I’ll keep a look-out for birds!”

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Lucy would like to thank those of you who said that they would send her Wildside Salmon if they won the lottery.

I was considering mentioning in yesterday’s blog post that getting her an unlimited supply of Wildside Salmon would be a priority should I win the lottery. But then I remembered that I already get her an unlimited supply of Wildside Salmon.

Aside: Lucy loves Wildside Salmon. She is a finicky little girl, refusing most kitty treats. But she has never turned down Wildside Salmon, and goes so far as to specifically ask for it every day. Loudly.

It was fun to read all the comments about what you’d do if you won the lottery. Daydreaming about a big lottery win is one of my favorite pastimes.

A long time ago in an office far far away, my coworker Donna and I often played this game. She always said that she’d buy several Tiffany “scatter pins.” She got the Tiffany catalog, so she’d bring it to the office and we’d drool over it together. At that time, Tiffany had several whimsical little pins available — I remember a jeweled bumblebee, costing several thousand dollars. Each. Donna would say “You know, scatter pins. You buy several of ‘em and just scatter them on your lapel!”

We always thought this was hilarious. But you probably had to be there.

Several of you asked what I’d like my WendyKnits colorway of Wollmeise to be like. I’m torn between having a mix of greens and browns, like my Loopy Legends colorway, Wendy’s Ferns & Toadstools, or a Lucy colorway, like Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Lucy.

Heck, I say we get two WendyKnits colorways!

But until that time, I’ll just knit what I’ve got.

Speaking of knitting what I’ve got, here is the shawl-in-progress.

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I’m thinking I’m going to do at least two more 32-row pattern repeats before I start the 42-row edging. That’ll give me a good 40 rows more than I usually do for a triangular shawl, but I don’t think I want to block this too severely. I like the way the motif looks just slightly stretched. Also, the intended recipient is tall, so she needs a long shawl.

And in the meantime, I’m chomping at the bit to start a new project. I’ve got yarn and pattern in mind. But I won’t allow myself to start it until I finish this shawl.

And here, just because Johanne asked, a picture of the second Alana sock in progress.

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Oh, and I almost forgot . . .

There were 1317 entries in the drawing for the Frosch Wollmeise. The random number generator chose #564 (chronologically numbered, with the first email received being #1), which turned out to be:

Lani!

Thank you everyone who emailed an entry. While I don’t have time to respond to 1317 emails, I do read them all! I wish I had Wollmeise for all of you.

Happy Spring!

I am a firm believer in Karma.

Why is it then that I haven’t won the MegaMillions lottery yet? I’m giving away a skein of Wollmeise, for Pete’s sake!

I guess it’ll take a bit more than one skein of Wollmeise to pour enough goodness into my karma-pitcher to enable me to win the lottery. How about this then:

I, WendyKnits, do solemnly swear on Lucy’s widdle furry head, that if I were to win a lottery jackpot of millions of dollars, I would contact Claudia in Germany — the Wollmeise herself — and commission a special WendyKnits colorway, order at least 1000 skeins of said colorway, and give all but one skein away to my blog readers.

Are you listening, Karma?

Okay, to tell the truth, I did have a recent lottery win. See?

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Speaking of Wollmeise . . . a few of you asked in the contest entry emails what special superpower I have that enabled me to snag some Wollmeise when it went up for sale at The Loopy Ewe. I was fortunate enough to be at a computer with a fast internet connection and checking the site when the Wollmeise went up. And I have the ability to shop at the speed of light. Ask anyone who knows me.

There was no email sent out to the Loopy Groupies for the Wollmeise update, by the way. But plenty of people were stalking it!

If it makes you feel any better, I totally missed yesterday’s Loopy Ewe shop update . . .

Hey, I finished the first Alana sock!

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Here’s a close-up of the top:

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I really really like it, but I thought of a little tweak, so I will likely knit another pair with the tweak before finalizing the pattern. I am, however, knitting the second sock of this pair to match the first sock, otherwise it would look odd. If I were knitting the socks for me, I’d likely knit the second sock with the tweak, but because these are gift socks, I want them to match. (See how thoughtful I am, Karma?)

Lucy wants to know what you would do if you won the lottery.

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Well, really, she wants some Wildside Salmon treats.

It is — I have spoken.

So without further ado . . .

Marianne Y asked:

I love how the Tempted yarn is knitting up! That is so cool! I’m curious–is it too early to tell if it might be scratchy or itchy, at all?

It doesn’t feel scratchy to me. The tiny thread of silver doesn’t seem to have any effect on how the yarn feels.

Jane in London commented:

We’ve been debating: will the silver tarnish over time? Please, keep us posted!

Good question! Does anyone know? These socks are going to be a gift, but I’ll certainly ask the recipient to report back from time to time.

And some non-knitting questions:

Sarah asked:

What is that Lucy’s drinking?

That is Peach Fresca with green food coloring in it. Say it with me: “Eeeewwwww!”

Lucy did not actually drink any. (She is too smart for that.) I put the glass on the dining room table to take a photo for the blog, and Miss Lucy hopped up to check it out. Instead of shooing her off the table like a sane person, I snapped some photos of her — for even better blog fodder.

Kinda makes you want to come over for dinner at my house, doesn’t it?

Tracy asked:

I keep wondering and maybe you’ve mentioned this at some time….you post so regularly during the week even when you work…and I know you take public transportation. Do you work a staggered shift so that you get home before 5?? Seems like you usually post between 5:30-6:00 your time and that just seems so darn efficient to have a blog posting done, dinner ready, etc. not to mention a terribly fast commute if you were an 8-5er!

On weekdays I get up at (groan) 4:00am. I am at my office by 6:00am, and I leave in the afternoon between 3:00 and 3:30pm. Even with stopping to run errands on the way home, I’m home by 4:30pm. That’s the beauty part of this schedule — it’s early enough in the afternoon so that I can get most errands and “business” taken care of after work. The sucky part of it is getting up at 4:00am.

And lest you think I had abandoned it . . .

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I’m still knitting on my shawl. Each row is now taking upwards of 20 minutes, so there’s not a lot of progress during the week.

And if you’ve read this far, you will be rewarded with a giveaway!

Last week I participated in a very undignified scuffle to buy bought some Wollmeise from The Loopy Ewe. The entire stock of Wollmeise that Sheri ordered sold out in 5 minutes!

Because of the urgency of the situation, I freaked out and bought a skein in a color I already had: Frosch.

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I can well understand why I chose it, because it is a great colorway! But I don’t need two skeins of it. So this skein of Wollmeise sock yarn, which is 150 grams, 510 yards, 80% wool, 20% nylon is free to a good home. Here are the roolz:

1. Only Wollmeise virgins are eligible to enter — I’d like this skein to go to someone who has not experienced the Wollmeise love. So if you have no Wollmeise but would dearly love a skein, feel free to enter the contest. No, I have no way of checking if you are in a Wollmeise-free zone. But if one were to lie about it and win the skein, I’d like to think that Karma would follow that individual and smite said individual. Eventually. Mills of the gods, and all that.

2. Send an email (ONE email per person, please) to the Official WendyKnits Blog Contest email address: blogcontestATcomcastDOTnet to be entered in the drawing. You do not need to put your mailing address in the email, but you certainly can if you want — it’ll speed things up getting your yarn to you.

3. Any Wollmeise-wannabe with a mailing address on Planet Earth is eligible to enter, be you in Zurich, Zimbabwe, Zaire, etc.

4. All emails must be received by me by 4:00pm United States Eastern time on Thursday March 20 because I will randomly select the winner shortly after that time and announce said winner in Thursday’s blog entry.

Lucy sez:

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“What??!! Momma’s giving away Wollmeise?”