Big update today – I've had a stressful couple of weeks, and thus have been doing lots of knitting. I don't have any finished objects, but I do have a lot to show. I'll start with an update of previously discussed projects:

The Big Pile o Lace

is finished. Well, the knitting is finished – I still need to block it.  It's pretty big, and it has some curves to it, so blocking it will be a challenge, but I'll figure it out. I'll give more details on this project once it's completely finished, but here it is in its pre-blocked state

The Afghan

I currently have 24 of 30 squares completed. Number 25 only has a few rows left. So I only have 5 squares to go and I start grafting it all together. That's going to be a lot of grafting. Elizabeth Zimmermann recommends grafting the squares together as you complete them. I've decided not to do that though, because the yarn I used for the outer part of the squares (which will be grafted together) is not a uniform blue, but changes throughout the ball (as do all of the SWS colourways). Therefore, I need to wait until all of the squares are finished so that I can put them in an order that works with the colour variations. Meanwhile, here's a picture of the Leaning Tower of Afghan

 I also have a couple of new things on the go. I have one completed giant slipper, which will become human-sized once it has been felted (it's the Fibertrends Felted Clog pattern, which really is an ingenious pattern). It's a really quick knit, but I only have one finished because a) I've been focusing on other projects and b) I knit the second slipper on a smaller needle than the first slipper. It may not have made much of a difference once I felted them, but since it's a quick knit anyway, I opted to undo the second slipper and start over. Except I haven't. Yet. But I will.

Last weekend I went out for some much needed Yarn Therapy with Betseydoodle. Our first stop was Yarn Forward where I spent some time looking through Victorian Lace Today. It's an incredibly beautiful book and, well, somehow it came home with me. Our next stop was Wool n Things, where I spent some time rolling around in all of the luxury yarns they carry (okay, so I didn't really roll around – but I thought about it. And I did sniff a lot of skeins and hold them up to my cheek). I decided that I needed to buy something really luxurious and decadent for myself. I wanted to buy something yummy to make a triangular scarf that I could wear with my olive green spring/fall coat, since it is quite open at the neck. I looked for something orange-y (big surprise there), but could find the right skein (there was some sea silk in the perfect colourway, but it was part of a shawl kit, so it was twice as much yarn as I needed). So I started holding up various skeins to my coat, and came upon this beautiful skein of Handmaiden 100% Italian Silk in a gorgeous red/bronze/brown colourway.

I didn't wind it into a ball until yesterday, because I wanted to finish the Big Pile o Lace before I started on another lace project. But I left the skein on my desk all week and stroked it regularly. Yesterday I wound it into a ball, pulled out my Barbara Walker Treasuries and started swatching. After trying 2-3 stitch patterns, I came upon one I liked, so I cast on. I'll use this stitch pattern for the body of the scarf, and then something else for the edging. I haven't decided on what yet though – I'll figure that out when I get there!

It doesn't look like much yet, but it yarn is heavenly to work with and I think it's going to make a fabulous scarf.

That's it for the knitting content, and on to the knitters content. This past Friday I went to the regular 1st Friday Knit Night at the Bridgehead on Wellington. As always, it was lots of fun. I teased Katrina of KnittyKnatty that she never posts, to which she responded that she doesn't have a camera, so she can't take pictures for her blog. So I took a few pictures and emailed them to her. Here's a picture of the group that was there on Friday (plus me, I'm safely behind the camera!)

From left to right are Kelly, Blogless Audrey, Sarah, Katrina, Tara and Lissa.We were sitting right across from the bar, so we had lots of stares, smiles and strange looks.