I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday...

KNITTING:

I brought a bunch of mini-skeins of yarn for some small crochet things that I thought I might do -- even put it in my carry-on -- but I never even looked at it.

I had some balls of yarn, DPNs, and a couple of gnome patterns... but I didn't look at that, either.

I was recently reminded how much I loved knitting & wearing my Close To You shawl and I've always wanted to knit another, so at the last minute I wound up a ball of yarn that's been hanging around, gathered needles & pattern, cast on and knit the first couple of rows, and tucked it all in my suitcase.

It was perfect for vacation, as it starts small and grows. I'd knit while we caught up on Olympics or watched a movie before bed, and it was great for knitting on the beach, too.

I love the subtle pops of green...

...and I think that those pops will get a little bigger & brighter as I progress through the skein.

READING:

Maybe those bits of "neon green" spoke to my subconscious... I've finally begun reading again! I started AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON on Monday and should be finished in time for the discussion.

BACK TO KNITTING/CROCHETING:

As established a while ago, it wasn't practical to bring my Temperature Blanket along on vacation, but I could bring the data/charts that still needed work! Everything is stored in a Google Drive folder, and Rusty brought his laptop. I took a planned break for an hour on Sunday afternoon and attended my first Vogue Knitting Live event -- a virtual talk by Cara about temperature/data projects! I was happily surprised that she gave my project a little shout-out in the presentation -- along with Kay Gardiner's projects (plural!), Suraya Hossain's Heirloom Temperature Blanket, and Tara Seifrit's NH Year 1 Temperature Blanket (one of my biggest inspirations when planning my design) (which I hope works). Inspired (again), I did a little work on my chart and nearly have it finished!

Anyway, I can't wait to get back to that project -- and my Hexie crocheted project -- but I'm really into knitting this shawl right now. First, the colorway is HELLEBORE (which I dyed a few years ago in a couple of yarn weights), and it'll be perfect for SPRING (which is happening this month), and it sure seems like a long time since I've had a finished object that wasn't a gnome or a hat. So, it's going fast and I'm just going to go 'til it's done, and then back to all those other things!