Six months?!

I can't stand it.  Six months since I've updated, and I don't know where the time went.  Life has been busy, but six months?!  I suppose I've immersed myself in family, projects, and life in general to the point I wandered too far off, but at least now, here I am, back at the blog at last.  I hope no one holds it against me--I have the same trouble with keeping up with facebook, reading through and cleaning up internet bookmarks, organizing my mp3 files on the player, keeping up with laundry, going through closets...you get the idea.  Yes, I'm scatterbrained.  But I'm rarely bored, so maybe it balances out!

First, I'll get the embarrassing stuff out of the way:  the sheep bits of my last post are still bits, I'm rather ashamed to say.  Another idea came along, then another...I will finish them and write up a pattern, I promise.  As we're moving into cooler weather, I will be more inclined to stay inside, and that means I spend more time with my work basket.  I'm looking forward to that, even if I'm not looking forward to freezing weather.

Over the past few months, I have been knitting and crocheting in between all the other activities; a new vest is up on Ravelry,  called the Albuquerque Diamondback.

This shawl was an interesting exercise--my first charted effort:  

It started out as something completely different and then shifted...hence, the name "Accidental Shift" shawl, but I like the results!

Paloma (the sweater/hat set) came about because my second grandchild's birth in July inspired me to create another, more feminine set for our darling girl.  Since she's far away, though, this model posed sweetly so I could take photos.  I haven't gotten to snuggle the real baby yet, but I am thinking on how to make that happen!

We did make it away from home for a bit over the past few weeks, but summer hasn't been all fun and games, sadly.  I have a friend whose son was recently diagnosed with leukemia.  He's only three years old, and the family needs all the help and support they can get, so I'm pledging half the proceeds of all my pattern sales through October 31 to his support fund (see more and keep up with the story through the facebook page Caring for Caemon).  And to that end, I am feverishly knitting away at a new chart that I hope will appeal to you, and I will update this as I make progress.  You can also find me nearly every day under the username sorlenna at Knitting Paradise, a knitting forum where you can meet folks from all over the world.

Oh, and then there's that other idea...stay tuned!