Afghan and Lace Leaf Love

TA DA!! I thought I would share the progress of the Noro Silk Garden Afghan. It is currently 2 feet long. I will post it when it is finished. AND I will share the pattern with you on my blog at that time. It is mostly a "weekend" afghan in that it is my main weekend knitting. However, it did not get a chance to be worked on this weekend. Other things ensued.

It was mid 40's, rainy and windy on Saturday before the next cold spell hit. (Note: It is 10 below windchill today.) I was not up to par over the weekend to do much of anything while I was battling the sniffles. Besides that, I was just plain sick of snow, ice and winter. So I decided that I needed a bit of spring knitting. A shawl...hmmm...with a colorway named Herb Garden, who could refuse?
So I got out a skein of Alpaca Sox by Classic Elite and cast on for the Blue Jeans Lace Leaf Shawl. I wanted something that would fire the old neurons in my sluggish and stuffy brain but not put it into overload. The picture does not do the yarn justice. It is lovely, soft, subtle shades of grey blue, olive and gold. The pattern was fun but the yarn was too subtle of colors for my rainy day knitting. A handspun skein from my stash kept calling very insistently to be knit. I finally, no willpower at all, succumbed to this...
It is approximately 5 oz of Blue Face Leceister spun as a singles yarn at about 668 yards. It has been in my stash for a LONG time. Noticing the yarn was spun thick/thin varying from fingerweight to sport/dk, I know that I spun this in my early spinning days. It was from a nonrepeatable roving hand dyed by Lynne Vogel of Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook Fame. I loved the aqua, turquoise, tan colorway from the moment I saw it. It reminds me of a far away exotic beach filled with surf and sand. (Hey, give me a break. I live in NE Indiana where it is 10 below at the moment for heaven's sake. A girl has got to have a dream!)

I spun it as a single to get the most yardage out of the roving and to keep the colors vibrant. So being the very impulsive and fickle knitter that I am...Herb Garden was dropped like a hot potato and I cast on this....

It is soft, light, lofty and engaging. It makes me wonder why I don't knit EVERYTHING with handspun. It was just what I needed to perk me up! I am definately feeling the Lace Leaf Love!! :-D (Eventhough as all lace knitters know, it looks like nothing but a bunch of Ramen Noodles before it is blocked.) It is amazing that we can get excited over a bumpy lump of nothingness!

I think this will have to become a priority project. (SHHH...don't tell the others; they tend to get jealous!) I can't wait to see it finished and blocked!