Knitting Twisty Handspun

I remember a time not too long ago when I found endless reasons to take pictures of the sky.

Lately the sky hasn't been terribly inspiring but today I looked up and saw these happy, puffy clouds and I couldn't wait to get a good shot. Don't you think they look happy? Maybe it's just me.

People at work keep congratulating me on "getting out" and commenting on how excited I must be. I am excited about the new job because I think it's going to be great but right now, what I feel most is relief. I can go to work this week at the SSJFH without feeling dread and it's extremely liberating. I haven't told too many people at the office that I'm leaving because it feels too much like gloating so, instead, I sit at my desk trying to wrap things up and I grin from ear to ear.

I started a little something new tonight. This is going to be a Flower Basket Shawl for DQ. I'm not sure if I mentioned that I planned to do this or not. Since I finished Seraphim, I've allowed DQ to use it twice. I bought her a bright blue dress for the summer that looks killer on her but it's sleeveless. I lent her Seraphim when she wore it to Temple recently because it's air conditioned and bare shoulders were not quite right. Suddenly, as I looked at her in my shawl it occurred to me that the blue handspun would go really well with the dress and the idea for this shawl was born.

I started the shawl last night and I got through the first chart and one repeat of the second. DQ is so excited! As I knit, I'm sure that she's thinking of how great she'll look in the shawl. I'm thinking of how far my spinning has come since I spun this yarn. It's really twisty in spots and it doesn't have quite the hand that my more recent yarn does. I think that a really nice long bath after it's finished will help a lot. It doesn't matter though because DQ is already in love with it. She keeps petting it as I knit.