What's the WIP Status?

In May I had seven projects on the go. I have just blocked the second shawl which means I have now completed five of the seven WIPS mentioned in my 16 May post. How nice it would be if I just had a pair of socks and a cardigan left to knit. OK, plus the three v. slow projects. But I cast on a pair of socks for the June challenge and I started a new shawl on 22 July - 22/7 - pi day. So now my projects are back up to seven. Sock Knitters Anonymous August challenge is to finish pairs of socks that were started before 1 July and my plan is to finish both pairs of socks before the end of August. The shawl is a long-term project to be finished on March 14 2017. I hope that means I can work on the cardigan WIP in September.

Here is the finished shawl.



This is the shawl that I had to redo the border when I had nearly finished it as I had worked it on the wrong side because I had added an odd number of rows. The yarn is MerGoat Lace by Indigodragonfly; yarn that I had originally bought to knit a hat until I came to my senses that I didn't want to knit an adult man's hat in fingering weight yarn and doubling it would have likely muddied the colours. The pattern is Duchess of Devonshire. I added a few extra rows as I wanted to use all my yarn. The yarn used in the original design is heavier than the yarn I used so my shawl is not very deep but is plenty wide enough. My son's GF styled it before taking photos.

Two Hats

As I have said many times, I like to have a project for charity on the go at all times and usually it is my handbag project and usually it is a hat. I have been making hats (and some scarves) for Operation Gratitude since January 2014 and I try to make one item a month. This year some projects have taken time to complete - the down side of having projects earmarked as handbag projects - and to date I have completed 6 projects. These are the latest two to be completed.

The group on Ravelry set up for people knitting for Operation Gratitude suggests a crochet and a knit hat pattern each month and I have joined a group called "Hat of the Month" as they have a crochet and knit hat pattern each month so this gives me more ideas.

The first hat came from the choice of this group in April. The pattern is Cool Logic. An interesting pattern as it is worked form the top down. I worked the edging is shorter than the written pattern as I worked until I ran out of yarn. The hat is plenty big enough anyway. I used Vanna's Choice in Colonial Blue.



This hat is from a pattern on Ravelry called Scarlet. It is designed for bulky yarn and I had some Loops & Threads Charisma in Black in my stash. This was a very easy pattern.