I know that it’s quarter of three in the morning, but I just had to share that I have finished the shawl. I haven’t unraveled the drop stitches that will form the fringe at the end, but it’s done otherwise.

It’s long. 500 yards is a lot of yarn. 1500 feet. 18000 inches.

And it’s fuzzy. My nightgown is coated in shedded mohair. You don’t think anyone at the wedding will mind if I’m furry and shed, do you?

The wedding isn’t even until Sunday! I’m pleased. And very tired. Which helps distract me from the Mets loss tonight. Somewhat.

Suzanne, if you’re reading this, I’m going to bring it in to work to show off tomorrow. Everyone else, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for the weekend for the daylight photo shoot or the trip to Connecticut …

Disjointedly off for a shower and to join Rudi in slumber…

I arrived home just before 8 tonight to find a lovely surprise — my Hot Socks box from Evelyn!

Evelyn happens to live across town from me and runs the blog devoted to all things knitting in the D.C. area — D.C. Knitting in the City.

Look what she sent me:

Thanks, Evelyn, for being a terrific pal. And, thanks, Laura, for being a good host. And, Chrissie, your box will be in the mail this week!

I like to read knitting blogs. (Rudi is gasping with shock here…)

Today, I was reading Amanda‘s weekly Yarn Aboard 2 update which led me to Redhead Ramblings, who linked to a contest sponsored by Heatherly at YarnYenta using a meme devised by Jody at JavaJem.

I like a contest as much as the next person but usually I only discover them after they’re over and someone is proudly displaying their prize. So this time, while there’s still time, I’m quickly hopping on the bandwagon….

1. Where is your favorite knitting spot?

Lying on the couch.

2. If you suddenly could never knit again (shudder), what would you do instead?

Go back to reading. My reading has definitely suffered since I took up knitting. Conceivably I would also have to devote more time to contemplating blog entries since I couldn’t fall back on knitting content and memes when I’m feeling lazy on a Saturday morning…

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Oooh, this is so hard. I’d love to go so many places. But I think I’d really like to go to the south of France, to Provence, because I’ve enjoyed Peter Mayle’s books so much. Other places that I’d like to go — home to New England, anywhere I have friends, over to visit the extended family in the British Isles, and other places I’ve never been, like Australia, Denmark, western Canada, Hawaii, Paris, India, someplace they have penguins…

4. When you were little, what did you want to do “when you grew up?” Are you doing it?

My childhood diary is buried in some box in my folks’ basement, but I know that in third grade I came up with a whole list of things I intended to be. I don’t remember them all, but the list did include writer, farmer, and vet. I am none of those things, but I do write some (although not about what I’d like) to earn a living. I believe I also told Mum at one point that I’d like to buy a big old farm house and invite orphans, homeless people, and stray animals to live there with me. Pretty much I’ve only followed through on the stray cat portion of that, which is good because those orphans would have to sleep in the bathtub here in the Burrow.

5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Cookie dough. Cookies and cream. Raspberry with chocolate swirl. Cool Britannia. Chocolate chip. Mmmmmmmmmmmm…. Excuse me while I go look for the ice cream scoop….

Over the weekend, I found a dress for the upcoming wedding Rudi and I will be attending. It’s a tea-length apricot-colored organza dress with a black net overlay with black embroidered flowers on the skirt. (I am not an expert on fabrics, so I welcome Mum chiming in to correct my description…) $30 at Marshalls. I love Marshalls.

Earlier in the day I’d been whining to Mum that I’d wished I found a dress earlier in order to knit a shawl to go with it. Since I had waited until the last minute, clearly that was out the window.

The more amazing thing is that I actually have a peach-colored shawl/wrap on the needles already (although not the needles in the photo).

The shawl had been put aside when the weather warmed up because it’s made with the yarn pictured above — 500 yards of Brooks Farms’ Duet, a kid mohair-fine new wool combo — which I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in 2005. The pattern came with the yarn and instructs me how to make a self-fringing wrap on the bias. (The farm shop links to a similarly named pattern, but mine forms a parallelogram instead of a triangle.)

I pulled it out tonight and started knitting on it again. I have 10 days until the wedding and, because the shawl is knit on size 17 needles, I think that will be sufficient time to finish. Despite being several inches into the project already, I loosened my gauge a bit in order to facilitate getting the yarn over the cable join of my circular needles. Yes, I know it will cause the bias to curve a bit at the bottom of the shawl, but by the very nature of the knitted object, I think that will be okay.

Now if I can just figure out a wedding gift, I’ll be all set….

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. In honor of Museum Day, the Smithsonian offered their basic membership for a mere $12 a year. Since membership automatically nets you a copy of their monthly magazine, I have to say that’s an amazing deal (and a delightful surprise, since I only went into borrow their bathroom during the National Book Festival).

2. The weather in the Pacific Northwest has been rainy and conducive to fungus growth, so Rudi’s dad called up last weekend to let us know we should expect a box this week. It arrived in time for last night’s dinner and was filled with a couple pounds of chanterelles, a mushroom known for its taste, its yellow color, and its price. Rudi cooked up a simple mushroom omelet for dinner — and it was utterly delicious.

3. Two days ago, I began to worry that I wasn’t going to have quite enough yarn to finish the sock I’d been knitting. So last night, I decided I’d better find the leftover from the first sock. (If it’s more than two inches long, I tend to save it…) I peeked into the notions bag where scraps often end up. I dumped out the knitting basket. I went through every container in the pie safe. As panic began to set in (actually, it was more like resigned despair, since I knew that in order to fix this problem, I’d have to undo the first sock’s toe and knit them both in a different yarn), I decided to check the notions bag one more time. I caught sight of a pink piece of yarn — there it was! But would it be enough? It wasn’t much more than a yard… Ultimately, the toe was a bit shorter than planned and I held my breath as I Kitchnered the toe closed, but I made it. And the yarn from the cast on will be used to used to fix the gusset hole, leaving me, by my guess, with less than three inches of yarn total remaining from the two skeins I bought. That’s cutting it close!

I don’t have anything on the needles right now.

Admit it — you just gave a little gasp right then, didn’t you?

Strictly speaking, of course, it’s not entirely true. There are a couple of wraps on big gahonkin’ needles tucked away, waiting for it to really cool off again. I mean, they’re mohair. That’s just not 80 degree knitting.

Oh, and there is that half-finished washcloth that I saw when I went into the knitting basket tonight….

There are several projects not yet done: The Daisy baby sweater that needs another sleeve. The purse I knit up earlier this week that needs to be blocked and assembled. The sock I finished tonight that needs its end sewn in and the hole in its gusset minimized.

There are projects in the wings: A second blue sock. A reknit hat. Socks. Christmas presents.

But there’s nothing on the needles to take with me to work tomorrow. How disturbing is that? Let’s hope I don’t resort to drastic measures like this knitter.

And tomorrow night? You’ll find me hunkered down on the couch with a new project on my needles and the Mets game on tv. We apparently just eked out a win in this afternoon’s game, but a win is a win is a win in the playoffs. I’m sure tomorrow’s game will be great!