Finishing Vacation

I normally take the week off for Thanksgiving with my excuse being that I can have time to gear up for the holidays, get the house together for company and get some projects done.  What I actually do is knit or spin like crazy and catch up on my TV shows that started up in the fall. It's one of my favorite vacations of the year.

First up was finishing my shawl from Sivia Harding's class at the Knitter's Review Retreat.  It turned out much better than I expected.  I second guessed every decision I made but overall I think it will be my most versatile item to wear.  It can be a shawl or a scarf or a cowl type thing based on how I feel like wearing it.  Here's a couple horrible pictures of me trying to model it:

A close up of the edging body and top border:

Not bad overall.  I can see how designers end up spending a ton of time swatching.  I could have kept trying ideas over and over again.

Next up was my first hand spun project.  Other people have used my hand spun in knitting or weaving projects but I hadn't tried it out yet.  Probably my inner perfectionist trying to tell me it wasn't good enough.  I grabbed some yarn that I loved and was far from perfect and figured it was time to dive in. 

A close up of the bottom edge:

I used a pattern from Ennea Collective called Posies Shawl that is meant to be knit in hand spun.  I love that.

Overall I'm extremely happy with what I was able to accomplish.  I'm working on a set of color work mittens from my other class at the retreat and they are coming along nicely.  With all of this finishing going I might actually have some time to spin although I am getting another weaving lesson tonight so who knows!