This week, I finally finished my Shimmery Shawl from back in December:
I loved using the Vanna’s Glamour; such a pretty yarn (especially after washing and blocking). However, this was not mindless knitting; not paying attention to what one was doing would result in a missed stitch, subsequently messing up the pattern for further rows. When I make this again (and I will) I hope that experience and the hard lesson of paying attention to one’s work will result in the project getting done quicker and with less headaches.
A word about blocking: I blocked this shawl using my Knitter’s Block for the first time. It is a joy to use – no more pinning projects into the carpet (and having to clean the carpet first!) but I did not have enough pieces in my Block! I ended up using the blocking cloth enclosed with the Block to finish the process; however, I have purchased another Knitter’s Block so this does not happen again.
Now, for some works in progress, both gifts for my college friends’ two children:
The top scarf, for their older son, is yet another Harry Potter Wizard’s Scarf in yet two more skeins of Vanna’s Glamour. This is pure mindless knitting; the body of the scarf is stockinette stitch. I cast on last Thursday (3/26) and am already one quarter way through. Versatile in color and construction.
(Speaking of cast on, this was my first time casting on by holding both needles together to ensure a looser cast on row. Vive la difference!)
The blanket is the Diagonal Pattern Baby Blanket using Homespun for the first time. It’s a little tight to knit with sometimes, but working up very well. Later in the pattern, I might have to use circular needles for the first time as the blanket gets larger and larger, for this is knit in a triangle.
Lest you think my blogs read like one big ad for Lion Brand, let me assure you they do not pay me to say nice things about their products. (Though with the amount of money I spend on yarn, I wish they would!) I just happen to go to grad school right by the LB Yarn Studio, and get a discount with my Pratt ID. I am giving other yarn companies my love; I used some of my tax refund to keep the good people of Knit Picks in business.
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I don’t have much to comment on the LIS world. Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers 2009 special was published this week; I might have comment on some of their selections. And perhaps I am saving my poison pen (or just my pen, depending on results) for April 2nd, when the Rutgers Board of Governors votes on the proposal to drop “library” from Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Science.
But the biggest LIS news in my life?
Thanks to a travel grant from my grad school (Pratt Institute), I am going to be attending the Special Libraries Association (SLA) 2009 Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
It isn’t my first visit to a conference; I spent a day at ALA’s 2008 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia at the Exhibit Hall. (Which doesn’t really count because a. I was too new to the profession to be impressed or unimpressed, and b. I had just recovered from a Death Flu, so I was too doped up on medication and out of it to be impressed or unimpressed.)
So this June I go to SLA, my first real conference adventure, with experience under my belt and (knock on wood) completely healthy.
And I can hardly wait. 
Posted by librariankate7578 
