Just as I imagined, as soon as Miss Marja’s scarf is dry, outside is wet. It’s pouring this morning with little chance of getting photos. So we’ll have to talk about something else.

Yesterday I woke up, took a long walk with the dog, got some shopping done, got a few chores done, and just as I realized I had a bit of a break and wasn’t sure what I was going to do about knitting, since I didn’t have a project and was waiting on yarn, I noticed that the mail had arrived.

My yarn arrived 2 days early! That was great because I didn’t have to figure out what should tide me over for the next 2 days. I have, again, decided to knit the westknits mystery knit along. I have a hard time resisting those crazy colorful shawls. I knit Doodler and Marled Mystery in the past. They are great for expanding the limits of my comfort zone, and I do end up loving them even though they are never what I would have chosen. My rule in the past has been that I need to have the yarn on hand, rather than purchase new yarn. I broke that rule this time, but with my store credit for doing the shop sample for Dyeabolical Yarns. I figured store credit still counts.

These are the three I chose. But, once I got them in person, I wasn’t sure of my dark color. So, I went into stash and decided to do a little swatching. I started with making my own dyed turquoise the darkest color:

Then, just for an additional experiment, I  tried one of my own hand dyed burgundy.

It was ok, but I didn’t like it as much as the turquoise, so I decided that burgundy could be an accent color. And I got started! I didn’t get very far before I decided I didn’t like knitting the project at all. I think this is because I was trying to work on a new pattern, while also watching a finnish TV show with subtitles. So basically, I wasn’t doing either thing well. Instead of stopping one and doing just the other, I decided what I really needed was to cast on another easier project. Which I did. Except the easier project I chose still requires that I look at a pattern every row. That didn’t help my predicament one bit!

I ended up quite frustrated about the entire thing, took the dog for another walk, did some other stuff around the house, and then went back to the mystery shawl while listening to a podcast. Lo and behold, the pattern was soon memorized and I was able to get back to watching a foreign TV show with subtitles. Phew.

I am still not entirely sure I am loving the mystery knit, but I’ve seen clue one and I think it’s gorgeous. So, I think a bit of powering through is in order. Again, due to the rain, I haven’t got a photo yet.

I am kind of loving today’s rainy day. Mr. Ink is forced inside, and we’ve had a pleasantly slow start to the day. We have an afternoon live show to go to, indoors thankfully, and because it’s NICE and early, we’ll be able to have chili from the crockpot when we get home. Doesn’t that just sound like autumn? Rain, cooler weather, dark earlier, and chili? Perfect.

I begin my altered work hours tomorrow. It’s going to be SO STRANGE really to leave the house after everyone else does! So strange. Thankfully it’s only for a month. I really am a morning person, and I love to be home from work earlier than Mr. Ink. But, during this month, I am hoping to do things like get the dog walked before I leave for work even, so I think there’ll be some enjoyment in the strange hours.

That’s it from my corner of the world! Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend as well.