Icelandic Shawl Started

Finally the month of hot, nasty August is over and we've started into September, which means my favorite time of year FALL is not far off. And to celebrate the start of a new month, I've started a new project, the Icelandic Shawl. This morning I cast on (yes I know yet another project). This is the shawl I've been itching to do for weeks! Yarn kit - check. Addi Turbo Lace Needles in Size 4. Check. Cast on 339 stitches. Check. Now I've finished the first four rows in white. I'm ready to do my first color switch soon. But I need to stop for a few hours and clean the house.

I'm working on several projects at once, but it doesn't feel scattered to me. It feels okay right now because I have a variety of things going. 1) An easy felted bag to do in my "dumb knitting" time; 2) an Icelandic shawl to do for thrills; 3) my Wrap Me Up which has temporarily been sidelined by the other two things but will go back into play once the felted purse is finished. 4) Lynn's "Florida Footies" (socks) to bring along when I need an extremely portable project.

In fact, you may roll your eyes when I tell you that I actually want to start ONE MORE new project this weekend and that is the Freeform Sleeves for my denim jacket that I've been wanting to get started on since BEFORE Stitches. I think that's going to be a long-term project, but one that I'll never get started on unless I just . . . get started. So I'm going to do at least a few beginning scrumbles in that as well. I wasn't happy with the scrumbles I did at Stitches so it's a total fresh start that I need to really get started. I already have my sleeve templates cut out of cloth.

For some reason, I'm feeling more centered about my knitting than I have in a long time. Though every project definitely doesn't always turn out as planned, I feel that I have a better handle on the stash I do have, and the projects I want to make in the next several months.

With my intro into the Ravelery world, I need to continue to use it more as an organization tool and less as a distraction. It is so easy to fall in there and go into an Alice in Wonderful world of fantasy projects. "Oh I want to do this!" and "Oh, I want to do that too!" but so far I've been good about not going crazy over there and wasting too much time.

This is going to be a relaxing, knitting weekend for me. Yipppeeeee. I also need to do some organizing and cleaning around the house, as well as getting back to my Core WW diet. I got a little off track on that last week.

I'm so happy to have a few days off. Oh man! It's wonderful. It's cool out this morning. Such a breath of fresh air. I love mornings like this.

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone.