Shrugging along

Shrugging along

At last, after several days with no students, I had a busy day. Seven students spread out over the day, instead of the usual mass meeting. I love the courage of new knitters. Several today were working on projects that are more challenging than some I see more experienced knitters taking on.

One of the people today (Hi, Holly) was working on one of the shoulder shrugs from the summer issue of Interweave Knits. I had been mulling whether to make this one or not. Now that I've seen it I think I will. And I get to learn in advance where the pitfalls are and figure out how to maybe make it a little more generous. I really liked the Oasis (Southwest Trading Company) that she was using. But I have stash that I need to use.

But I can't start another shrug right now. I have one going already plus I started another ribbed shrug, like the one I showed last week, as a shop sample. I was too busy today to get much done, so no picture yet, but I'm very pleased with how Berroco's Zen works up. There are some wonderful colorways as well as solids that would be great in this pattern. (I sound like a Threadbear newsletter.) Anyway I want to get this done as soon as possible.

Ann Mary is busy making knitted necklaces. She made a felted one a couple of months ago using Rowan's R2. And now she has some kits that she's determined to promote. I guess they're interesting but I'm not convinced they're going to be big sellers. I'm willing to be wrong on this.

I did finish the latest HP book. And I'm not going to discuss it. Well, I will say that I enjoyed it, maybe not as much as the last one. I heard that the next and last book comes out in November. Can that be true?

It was 96F today, according to the official weather report. That means it was probably over a hundred in my part of town. Pat the Cat is spending his days sprawled out on his back, mostly in front of the fan.