finished this week

I've been told that one of the most important things to do when writing a blog is to be consistent. Well, sure, that's a great theory, and it's probably super important for bloggers who get paid in some way to write. But for the rest of us, the amateurs who imagine ourselves to have something of value to say, at least every so often, blogging consistently is not high on the list of life priorities. 

You don't really care, right? I'm here when I'm here. And look how much I can get done when I'm not interrupting the flow to write about the things I'm doing. Knit a lot, write a little. Good enough.

This week I had a bunch of projects on the sticks, and was feeling some personal pressure to finish at least some of them. So I hunkered down and did some serious stitching. Out of all the things I had started, here's what got finished. Now I can catch my breath for a few minutes and share some yarn love.

Bike weather is coming, so I got this basket for the back of my bike that's big enough for Heidi to ride in. She likes going for rides, and of course she makes people happy all along the way. I crocheted the liner for the basket so she'd have a cozy little nest that looks much cuter than it did when I first lined it with an old bath towel. All we need now is a one of those little license plates for the back, so folks will know her name.

Our local Providence Hospital asked if I'd be willing to make prayer shawls (also known as comfort shawls) instead of baby hats for a while. It's no surprise that there are more people in need of comforting - for all sorts of reasons - than there are new babies born. I have a few helpers in this project, and we pass the shawls around a bit, so nobody feels overwhelmed by the amount of knitting required. My friend Sue made most of this one. I only did the ribbing on the ends and a bit of finish work. This makes 3 shawls completed by the group so far, and we collectively have 5 more on the sticks at the moment. We're off to a good start.

These wine bottle cozies hold two bottle of lovely Oregon pinot noir. They're little gifts for the wonderful hostesses who are throwing a baby shower for my daughter next week. (Yes, I'm about to be a grandmother! I'll show you what I've made for the baby after I give it to my girl.)

And finally, this soft little change-of-season scarf is fresh off the needles this morning, and has been on my own personal neck all day. It's made with a special skein of yarn I treated myself to a couple of weeks ago. Visit CandySkein to get some of this beautiful washable merino for yourself, from a new, small two-person company in Astoria, Oregon. Their colors are named for edible treats. This one is "Chocolate Chip Nookie"! Love it!

It was quite a week. At the moment I only have one purple prayer shawl in the works, so it looks like I'll be casting on another scarf tonight. Yay! I always need a small project I can work on in public. I might not take the time to blog about it as often as I'd like, but knitting in public sure is something I do. Almost every day.