Shawly, you jest!

If there is some kind of therapy for compulsive punning, let me know. I will voluntarily check myself in, as long as I can bring my knitting with me, and DH can visit any time.

I have three shawls on the go. Is that crazy? I cast on Icarus (scroll down) last night, with some Schaefer Andrea that has been burning a hole in my stash ever since I bought it on impulse at Urban Knitting Studio several months ago. As impulse purchases go, a 1000 yard hank of laceweight isn't a bad deal, even at 60 bucks a pop. The thing that sold me is that the color is called Renata Tebaldi. I love yarn, I love opera. It was in my basket faster than you can say "La Boheme." The colorway is a beautiful blend of deep pink, red and greeny-brown, and I think it will work up nicely, since Icarus has those bands of stockinette before you get to the lace edging.

The Cap Shawl is going well. I am nearly done with the center spiral -- only 18 more rounds to go before I start the second chart. In a way, I think of this as my first "real lace" shawl. The others were in heavier yarns on bigger needles, and this one is true laceweight on smaller needles. It even looks different: more rumpled and Ramen-like than my fingering and sportweight shawls. I think the magic of blocking will be even more evident with this one, and I am looking forward to it. I might give Russian string-blocking a whirl this time.

Finally, my Alfabeto shawl is a nice, easy one to pick up when I don't feel like concentrating, but really want to work on a shawl. I am following Clara's pattern in plain stockinette until I get bored with stockinette, at which point I will probably switch to dear old Feather and Fan to create a lacy, scalloped edge. I adore how the colorway is working up: no flashing or pooling, just a pretty shaded, dappled effect. It's gorgeous.