No Rantings?!? Is The Penguin Hiding?!?

The answer is... no. I am not hiding. I have been doing nothing but dish/washcloths... tons of them! I have done a private swap with 4 different people trading my dishcloths for sewn items. And I have to say I've gotten some majorly cool items! I received a beautiful tote with a pocket inside and a matching pincushion dressed like a rooster. And stitch markers! And a great heart pincushion and pink flower pin made out of felt! My zippered pouch is on its way and it matches my new luggage perfectly!

I am going to see Ally and Matt this Saturday. Tomorrow my baby (Ally) turns 22. Oh yes, I am feeling old. But I can't wait to see them... he can pretty much sit up on his own and I have swimming diapers to take so we can all go swimming.

There are no pictures because all my dishcloths are done in various patterns and sent out faster than I can take pictures. I just don't ever seem to put them aside for gifting later. But I will. And so no pictures of THOSE, you can rest assured. :) I have a couple other projects planned but waiting for fall when the weather is cooler. It's just getting hotter and hotter here. So dishcloths are a good summer thing as they aren't hot and they're fast.

OK, speaking of fast...

I am doing 2 dishcloth KALs at a time. And both groups run 2 a month. So making 4 a month just with those will give me gifts to give or a swap stash. My mother doesn't read this (no computer) so I can post here that I am planning to make her a rectangle shawl for winter out of some beautiful cashmere/alpaca I purchased from KnitPicks in amethyst, her birthstone color. I want to give that to her for Christmas. Well, unless I finish it to take with me in October.

My big decision now is that since my 2 KALs will be done before the weekend, what do I take to knit in the airport? Jo won the airport knitting lottery last month. I don't always finish something while I'm gone but if I do, I'm going to randomly give it away to someone I know. Nothing quite like a little surprise for-no-reason gift. And I love to knit dishcloths. I have a book with my favorite easy patterns. I have one pattern (Jo received it last month in the airport lottery) that is lacy and beautiful and easy. It's a nice alternative to the feather-and-fan that I love. I kinda got burned out on that. Same with the ballband. So I am trying to find five to ten patterns that I really like that aren't hard to rotate through.

But since y'all want to see pictures, here... But Jo, don't say anything! This is the one I was working on that Vicky loved so guess what she's getting for her birthday. It's a secret! It's also one of my favorite patterns. It's called "moss diamonds".