The Man Cold

Ah yes, as the weather finally starts to turn (emphasis on starts...we had snow again over the weekend), our home has been invaded by the dreaded Man Cold. KittyDaddy caught the bug last week, took a day and a half off of work and slept the whole time. Now the kids and I have said cold. Boy, do I wish I could take some sick leave and sleep instead of tending to sniffling, cranky kids. We did manage a mass nap piled on the sofa yesterday when I could. not. keep. my. eyes. open. anymore. Yeah, all four of us. Does that tell you how wiped out I was? Fortunately, I am feeling better today!

I have been MIA lately and for that I blame Ravelry. If you're not a Raveler, feel free to skip ahead. In Rav, I made the mistake of looking at the MCY thread and have been hopelessly addicted (lurker only). I think I'm finally cleaning up my act, but boy, I still want to see what comes of it (if anything). Also, I have been stealth knitting. So knit happens, but it does not feed the blog much. Pics on Ravelry if you're interested (I'm pretty sure the intended recipient is NOT a Raveler).

I did start the Laminaria shawl with my Malabrigo. I am about two and half repeats into the star part (of six repeats) and just LOVE the pattern and the yarn. This is going to be one cozy and soft shawl. I can't wait to get to the more open "blossom" part of the pattern. My only gripe with the pattern (and it's a small one) is that chart winds up asymmetrical. The chart is repeated twice with the middle line between and one one side there is a very visible horizontal line and on the other a very visible vertical line. I'm pretty sure I could rip back and substituted sssk for the k3tog parts and it would come out symmetrical, but I have decided to be happy with it. I think it will smooth out some with blocking and I will probably be caressing it and calling it "precious" instead of looking at symmetry once it is done.

My only beef with Malabrigo is that it is a little hard to knit with compared to other lace weights I have used (most notably Jaggerspun wool/silk and KnitPicks merino laceweight). The thickness varies slightly and it is not tightly spun (and is single ply), so it can occasionally be difficult to figure out where one stitch ends and the other begins if they are bunched together or to split the ply. I can't complain much though, because the end result will be worth it, but if this were a first lace project, Malabrigo might make lace knitting seem somewhat harder than it really is. (And yes, Deb, I am looking at you right now!)