Working steadily away…

I have been working steadily away on my Hanne Falkenberg cape.  I am almost to the 1/2 way point.  This is a good knit where not a lot of thinking or chart following is required.  Her patterns are extremely well thought out, and the math always works out perfectly (unless you make a mistake).   My only complaint would be that I have to read sections of the pattern at least 3 times to be really clear on what she is asking for.  I think that there is both something lost in the translation, and an issue of formatting the written pattern.  The first time that I knit with her yarn I was less than thrilled with it, but it has grown on me.  She uses a Shetland 2-ply, and I can attest that it wears very well.   The heat wave has finally broken here, so I don’t mind a bit of wool in my hands or on my lap as much.

On the spinning front, I am having a bit of a conundrum.  I was plying my Fiber Optic Mad Monet with a beautiful Mediterranean blue merino.  The blue seemed to be stealing the show, so I tried a 3 ply with 2 plys of the Monet and one of blue.  Still didn’t work, so I am now plying the Monet with itself, and will do the same with the blue Merino.  I have wasted a bit of yardage in my experimentation.  I still have a hard time figuring out how the colors will look in a finished yarn.  I would love to get some more of this Mad Monet, but there is apparently a waiting list.  (left side is Monet on Monet)

And on a house note, look at this cool vintage wicker light fixture (scored from a musty messy basement in Grand Rapids).   My husband is going to rewire this and the porch is set up with a new ceiling light box to accommodate it.