On reaching limits

My grandmother passed away last night. She's my dad's mother, and honestly, for most of my life, we weren't very close. I am sorry for him, but I feel as if we said goodbye a long time ago. Jill leaves Sunday for the peace corps. Work is a mess. Ugh.

FO: Peachy hat

I finished the hat to match Jill's cowl for Kazakhstan on my vacation. I really thought I was going to run out of yarn, but I ended up with about a foot left over.

Details:
Stella's Hat, by Knitting School Dropout
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, Dusty Peach, .5 skein
Needles: Size 7 Knitpicks circular
Time: 2.5 weeks
This is the second time I've made Stella's hat, and I love it. The pattern is fun and interesting (and definitely more intuitive the second time around). It's definitely one of my go-to patterns for a ball of variegated Malabrigo.

And it looks cute on Jiller, too.

Ravelympics

So, if you're not a knitter, or, if you're not a raveler, let me tell you a little about the ravelympics. It's a knitting event that takes place during the Olympics. There are different events, based on what you intend to knit, such as the Bag-and-Tote Backstroke, Hand-Dyed Hurdles and the Itsy Bitsy Bikini Backstroke. The object is to complete an object for whichever category you choose from the time the Olympics start to finish.
Since I am apparently really presumptuous about my knitting abilities, I signed up for two events: the Shawl Relay and WIPs Wrestling. For WIPs Wrestling (that's works in progress wrestling for you, mom and Jill) I'm hoping to finish two projects that have been sitting for months.

The majority of Something Red (and Yellow) was completed this spring, including on my New Mexico trip. All that's left is the collar. You knitters know that's a pretty intimidating portion, but I'm hoping I can knock it out. I'd really like to wear this in the fall.

The other WIP I'm hoping to wrestle is my Zig Zag Pillow. I started this last year (I think it's my oldest WIP). Since I'm only doing a pillow front (and then I'm going to use fabric for the back), it's possible that I could wrap it up during the Olympics.

And finally, to really prove my insanity, I'm hoping to start AND finish Angela's wedding shawl. Har. Considering I've never done a full lace project (unless you count Square Cake). The plan is Juno Regina in this yarn:

So, these are the things I'll be focusing on in the next few weeks. Hopefully, I can accomplish at least one of these three outlandish goals.