It's a gray, very rainy day here today, so I have spent the morning reading blogs and trying to ignore the fact that I actually have to leave the house later today. It's a good thing I was motivated last night to post about all the exciting crafty things that have been going on around here lately! First of all, here is the secret-ish project that I started over winter vacation. I've been using the Noro Silver Thaw laceweight (yes, they make laceweight!) and my own brain power to come up with some kind of cropped wrap/shrug that I can wear to the big Valentine's Ball that we're organizing in my area in February. Luckily, I started my preparations for the knitted accessory earlier than last year, when I casting off for my skinny scarf on the train there!

I used the topdown raglan generator to get the general idea of how many stitches to cast on around the neck, and then did some random increasing to make a v-neck that slightly resembles that of the Lucky wrap I made last year. So far, so good! I also wanted to make a lace pattern down the arm, and the cover of IK summer 2005 caught my eye so I decided to try that. The bobbles remind me a little of those panels down the back of a stegosaurus, but I think that if I just poke them inwards a bit, it ought to work out just fine. I'm starting the arms today, if I have any time left before heading over to my tea teacher's house to prepare for our new year ceremony tomorrow morning.

My work seminar this week went really well, and luckily my "team speeching" comedy routine that I did with a teacher from my office turned out to be a hit. Once the audience started lauging, I could totally relax and actually had a good time. Don't think I have a future in comedy writing, though.

Remember how I said that Becky was just awesome? Well, now I have more concrete proof. She went home to Canada this Christmas and brought me back a Fleece Artist Thrummed Mitten kit for my birthday! I really love this stuff, and always wanted to make some thrummed mittens so I think I'll be casting on soon.

In case you didn't know, it's National De-lurking week! I doubt I have as many lurkers now that I've moved to a new site (have you updated your links?) but if you're reading this, reveal yourself!

(you can get more delurking buttons here)