Some FOs and some new stash

I can't quite seem to keep the inflow/outflow balance even, much as I may try, but two objects rolled off the needles this week; one is a true FO, and the other is the first of a pair of socks.  I stuck to my usual SSS-avoidance tactic, though, and promptly cast on for the second sock, so with luck I'll get those done before next summer's solstice rolls around.

The first FO is the Whippoorwill shawl.

(Modelled here by Younger Daughter.)  This was a fun knit, well-written pattern, gorgeous fiber.  I knitted it out of Frog Tree Pediboo, which has a gorgeous drape and weight, thanks to the bamboo fiber, plus plenty of loft from the merino.  A very nice shawl fiber.

It's a simple pattern, but it definitely does the trick.

This is one I'll wear a lot (and I love the colors!!).

I also finished the first of the Alhambra socks.

I continue to love everything about these - the pattern, the yarn, the combination of colors, everything.  I also continue to find it a challenge, which is why these are taking me so long.  I really, really need to concentrate on the charts as I work, especially the charts for the leg.

It's well worth it, though.  I'm thinking that if I were to go through and put in more of my usual chart landmarks (for example, I tend to draw a vertical line down the chart every five stitches or so, with a very dark one right in the middles, as it helps me to better track where I am), that might help (I don't know why I didn't do that to begin with, but there you have it).  And I really do keep finding myself tripped up by the fact that the dark squares on the chart correspond to the yellow while the lighter squares correspond to the blue.  It's a little mind game to keep that straight somehow.

But so worth it! 

The second sock is on the needles.  This is the second pair of socks (of three) that I was hoping to finish for Sock Summit (the first was the hand-knit socks).  We'll see...

I also got a most lovely and unexpected package in the mail last week, from my sister-in-law (she who gives excellent fiber-related gifts).  She has recently taken up dyeing (for which I am very grateful, as I am still sticking to my guns on the whole not-dyeing thing), and will you look at the fruits of her labors?

Superwash merino.  How gorgeous is that?  The girls have both attempted to lay claim to the one on the left.  I am as yet unsure whether I will let them get away with it.

But I can tell you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this next one is minemineallmine.

Do you see that?  The colors are even richer in person, and I love everything about it.  It's a superwash merino/mulberry silk blend, and it's stunning.  I haven't even come close yet to finding a pattern that's good enough for it, so for now I pet it and love it.  It makes me very happy.

In other news, I'm going to take a bit of a blog-post writing hiatus for the next few weeks.  July is hectic, and I haven't been as good as I ought to be about posting (or about keeping up on blogs in general, although I do try!!), so I figure I'll make it official and say that I'll be back in a few weeks.

But I will leave you with this.  Last weekend, we went to the local Scottish Games, as we are wont to do this time of year.  And, as we are also wont to do, we made sure to wend our way to the beer tent in time to listen to the Wicked Tinkers during one of their sets (if you don't know the Wicked Tinkers and like that sort of thing, I think they're great).  At one point, their cute young drummer hopped up onto a table to play, and Rick caught this little interplay on the camera:

"What does a Scotsman really wear under his kilt?" (says she, the hand there on the left)

"And wouldn't you like to know?"

He was so speedy-quick that I can only assume this has happened before.  And so is mystery (and modesty) preserved.