Things getting finished - and minor heat wave.

Temperatures in the 90's(F) this weekend, so I went out early in the day, and stayed home the rest of the time.  This means I didn't see friends in an outdoor concert, or attend a little street festival - things I definitely would have enjoyed in the Before Times, but with the COVID-19 numbers surging, the combination was enough to keep me home.  Air conditioning is on for the first time this year, and I did a check of the filter but it's almost clean, so I didn't replace it.  I have been drinking a lot of iced tea, and eating paletas to keep cool.

Just in time for very hot weather, I finished one of my UFOs, the Fiberlady Swirl yarn top.  I tried it on while on-needles to see about the fit, and it seemed to be OK:

Tried on over my t-shirt.  Two circulars at the bottom.

The top used only two hanks of yarn, in the end, and while unshaped fits well and is cool. 

Finished!  And ends run in, but not blocked.

So it's finished in plenty of time for DFW Fiber Fest, and when registration opened yesterday I went online and managed to score all the classes I wanted to take.  (Good thing I did, as two were filled by the end of Saturday.)  It's been a long time since I've had a full weekend of classes.  Of course whether I attend depends upon the state of the pandemic at the time, but I can make that decision in September.

I'm up to five books finished, of the eight I declared; I'd like to finish twelve this year, but we shall see.  I left The Agony and the Ecstacy home, so I am back to it now, and it seems as if I never make progress even though I read a half a chapter or more each evening.  It has almost 800 pages, not including the appendices, and I'm slightly past half, which may be why it feels that way.

Instead of another UFO (and I've found a couple more) I started something new - of course!  During the Stitches Expo earlier this month I heard about Miss Purl's Party Shawl which mingles crochet and knitting, and decided to start it.

There will be a LOT of ends to work in at the top edge.

I am using stash yarn and not all the colours, just two, and working at a larger (and not quite as drapey) gauge.  Right now it has some handspun for MC and Fiberlady BaaBoo for all the contrast colours; I'll reverse that in the border.  I am using the BaaBoo doubled to more closely match the handspun, which has uneven thickness.

The BaaBoo is (I think) Cafe au Lait colourway, and as you can see the handspun (which I am pretty sure is also from Fiberlady) includes tans, blue, and white.  There may not be enough of the yarns to do the full border, but I am OK with whatever is achieved.  Yesterday the designer released an updated pattern and I've decided to stick with the original one, as I understood it well enough.  I may do a proper version of fingering weight later using the updated version.

My grandmother told me that she received the shawls I sent to her for Mother's Day, and loves them, but thinks they are too pretty to wear so she keeps them spread on her bed and admires them.  I assured her they are washable, but she doesn't want to take any chances with the sparkly yarn.  Oh, well!