ONE, TWO -- What to do?

I finished two shawls this week and today was able to take them off the blocking boards.  I just love blocking lace.  It's just magic.  Plain and simple.  You have this lump of jumbled stitches that after soaked and spread out reveal beautiful lace.  Yup, magic. 
The Citron shawl wasn't a drastic blocking revelation since I only wired the straight edge and finger blocked the rest.  I wanted to keep the ruching and ruffly edge intact.  Easy-peasy.  I have to say that Polwarth I spun feels even softer to me than merino and I know wrapping up in this shawl is going to be pure comfort, like a soft, sheepy hug.  Gee, it even goes with my whole wardrobe.  Matches my jeans perfectly.  Here she is:

The Certain Shade of Green Shawl, on the other hand, was a bit of blocking bliss.  After I spread it out and started pinning, it just came to life.  LOVE, love, love the leaves, of course.  The center panel was surprisingly fun to knit and I've never seen this textured stitch before.  I just love it.  The whole thing just drapes beautifully and this baby merino is wonderfully soft as well.  This is from a ColourMart cone.  I have several cones of this color and am glad of it.  I can see many more next-to- the-skin items with it in my future.  This was a fun knit-along and I'm sad it's over.  I love the mystery of the next clue and what it will reveal.  Here she is:

Well, after these two projects were finished, I felt a bit adrift.  I know I have other wips I could go to and I did.  I knit a few rows of Bee Fields and another claw on a square of the Bear Claw Blanket but I just wasn't loving it.  I felt myself coming down with another case of start-itis.  What to do, what to do?  I really wanted to knit more lace so maybe another Niebling beauty?  Hmm, not feeling like another doily right now, though I was drooling over several the last couple of weeks.  The spring has me thinking of summery garments.  Check the queue.  Aha, I forgot I wanted to knit the Wakame Lace Tunic.  I pulled out some cones of silk and they were all different shades of green.  Amazingly, I wasn't feeling the love.  I know, I know.  What is happening to me?  I blame Debbie of Purple Fleece.  All these different colors I've been spinning of her fibers have me looking to colors other than green.   Rust, I'm feeling earthy rust lust.  I looked through my stash page on ravelry and it reminded me I have a whole honking ginormous cone of merino/silk lace weight in the beautiful, rusty shade of curry.  About 5000 yds of it.  Granted I did make a stole several years ago out of this, but it hardly made a dent.  The brain gears are turning.  What if I doubled the strands?  Use two strands instead of one?  Gauge swatch!  I hate to swatch as much as the next person; but I know the value of a good gauge swatch and how much time and frustration it can save. 

Luckily, the pattern begins at the bottom edging.  Since I planned to eliminate one of the leafy panels, I just dug right in and cast on for one leafy panel and the mesh section.  I chose size 5 needles, since I usually need to go down 2 sizes from what the pattern suggests to achieve gauge.  After a few inches I measured and lo and behold --  perfect gauge!  Yay, I don't have to rip out and start over.  I wouldn't do this on a full back panel of a sweater, but maybe a sleeve.  I got a feel for the pattern repeats and liked the look of it and the drape.  So on I went.  Finished the bottom edging, joined it and picked up stitches all around and began the body of the tunic.  Fun, fun, fun. I'm loving it; and the color is just what I was craving at this moment in time.  Here's my progress so far:

This weekend is the NH Sheep and Wool Festival and I'm going with Sue.  We both have classes Sunday in the am.  I am taking a dye workshop and she is taking a spindle spinning class!  Woohoo - another spinning buddy.  She knew resistance was futile.  I can't wait to see if she loves it as much as I do!  I have a feeling she will.  She loves learning as much as I do and we are kindred spirits in the fiber field.   I welcome her to the fold.  :-)  I'll be sure to post on the workshop and goodies we find at the festival.  It's a nice fibery fix before we have to wait until October for Stitches East.

Thought for the day:  Anyone who doesn't cultivate a sense of humor may grow weeds on his disposition.