Goodness! Its been well over a week since I last posted anything! Last week was packed, and I barely had time between arriving home from work & activities and bedtime. So, I missed last week’s Yarn Along.  I thought about posting later in the week, but that never happened either. I worked six nights, had one night off, and I’m back at it for another five. It never once occurred to me to blog during the “down time” at work, when much of my crafting and reading gets done, until tonight. It’s the wee hours of Wednesday morning. My little charge is asleep in the bed behind me, her ventilator whirring away, and I have a few moments. Time to catch up and for this week’s Yarn Along.

The Hook

Had I actually posted last Wednesday, I would have had to say that I hadn’t made any progress on my afghan squares. As I said above, the week was particularly busy with little crafting time at home. And I have to work on these at home. Why?

Because toting around all those skeins isn’t practical in the least! I suppose I could pull off smaller balls, but the way I have them arranged keeps them from tangling, and I’m trying to be very judicious with my yardage.

However, because I’m posting this week instead, I can say that I’ve made a tiny amount of progress. I’m up to just about 19 squares total.

The Book

I am finally reading Bonhoeffer. I haven’t gotten very far, though. The orange paper is marking my spot, and the white paper, some 250 pages farther, is marking where I should have been for the book club meeting last Friday. I wound up not going as I hadn’t actually read the book we were discussing. Oh well. I shall catch up and join them at the next meeting. Already the book is dog-eared and underlined in a few places.

The Needles

As you can see in the book photo, I have something red on my needles. It’s a Hogwarts Express shawl for my Sister-In-Law’s birthday…which was in April. I actually gave it to her on the needles with the promise to finish it…in April. It has been in time out since I went to far before increasing for the ruffled bottom and had to tink back row after row after row, weighing as I went along until I had 60% of the yarn left unworked. Tedious! Time out! I have since discovered that I tinked back farther than I needed to by a few rows. Also, it’s been in time out so long that I’m not sure where I am in the pattern. The ruffled border includes a row of cute cabled owls, thus the parliament in the title. (In case you didn’t know, a group of owls is called a parliament.)

Another thing on the needles (and, let’s be honest, there are probably a dozen things!) is this adorable monster for my friend Louise. Louise is a dear lady at my church. She’s well into her 80’s, a cancer survivor, spunky as all get out, and an absolute love. When my Grandma was still alive, Louise asked about her every time she saw me. In the past year, Louise’s health has taken a downward turn, and she is currently recovering from emergency surgery to fuze bones in her neck after a fall. Some months ago, she saw a monster I was knitting and casually mentioned that she would like one. She picked Irving out of my copy of The Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger. She didn’t have a color preference, so I went bright! If there was ever a time to give her something bright and cheerful, it’s now. If you are the praying type, I’m sure she would appreciate a few said on her behalf.

I think that concludes my latest update. To anyone who might be thinking I was shirking my duties, this took me four hours and several “down times” to complete, a little at a time. 😉 Perhaps tomorrow I’ll go into a little more about what I do. Until then, have a great Wednesday.

~Janet