I feel like I've taken a vacation from looming because I don't have a lot of completed projects, but that's not the case. I've been diligently working on the afghans for my sons and I did manage to finish the prayer shawl. Note to self: try to have no more than one or two big projects going at one time. I need some instant gratification once in a while! LOL

Here's the prayer shawl I made for my friend's mom. I made it with Homespun on the DA Prayer Shawl loom using 63 pegs. I used the suggested pattern (odd rows K3P3, even rows P3K3). I like the way it came out, but somehow I must have gotten off on my stitches on one row, because one row just doesn't look right. Grrrr. But I keep telling myself that there's only One who is perfect, so it's okay if this mere human makes a mistake here and there. I think she'll still love it. Next one I make I believe I'll use a more open stitch.

Josh's afghan is coming along very nicely. I'm using three colors -- dark blue, light blue and white. The next strip after the one I'm working on will be light blue. The yarn I'm using is plain old Caron (one pound), and I'm pleasantly surprised at how soft and warm it's turning out. I've gotten the hang of using the infinity board, so I can finish several rows in an evening before switching to the other afghan.

Kyle's afghan is going much more slowly because it's being done on the 80" infinity rake. I'm wrapping, knitting off and purling almost 250 pegs each trip up and down the board, so I don't finish more than two or three rows in an evening. I might have it finished before he graduates college (he's 11 now!). I love the way it's turning out too. It will be so warm and so BIG. This might be a blanket that stays on his bed rather than an afghan he snuggles under on the couch.

Speaking of my boys, just take a look at what they did for me for Mother's Day. They went all by themselves (no help from dad) and picked out the basket and filled it with my favorites -- Sweet Pea bubble bath, shower gel, lotion and spray from Bath and Body Works, and four skeins of YARN! Talk about touching my heart! They usually don't love making trips to the "yarn store" with me, so knowing that they went into the store and picked it out by themselves is pretty cool.

I added two new books to my library this week. 1000 Great Knitting Motifs has lots of charted patterns that I can't wait to try out. The Knitting Stitch Bible has tons of stitch patterns represented by charts so they're easy to create on a loom. I can't wait to get started with both of them! Now if I could just find a few extra hours in the day. Oh, I ordered both of these books from Amazon.com and paid less than $10 each.

Here's my progress after day 3 of the Decor Accents group May Knit-a-Long (you can also find it here). On past KALs I've printed out the directions and have done several days worth of rows at one time. This time I'm printing them out and working the rows one day at a time. I believe this is called shadow knitting or illusion knitting? Looking at it straight on it just looks like a bunch of stripes. But look at it from an angle and you can see a pattern starting to appear. I can't tell what it is yet. I finished day 4 last night but haven't photographed it yet. Can't wait to see what it is!

Okay, I'm off to grab a cup of java and get this day started. I have to clean the middle level of my house -- I'd be embarrassed if ya'll stopped by for an unexpected visit and saw my mess! Then I'll work a little on my jewelry website and start working on my husband's coworker's website. We have a cool deal going on. She sells clothes in a booth at Virginia Bazaar (a giant flea market) and I sell jewelry from my website. We've worked out a deal where she will take some of my jewelry with her to sell in her booth and I'll put some of her clothes on a website for her.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Have a great Friday!