2 knitting projects and magic

So what I said last time was in general that I was burning out...I guess all I needed was a weekend off and a dose of LotR as a refresher. I spent all day Monday working on the Alaina beanie, and am about 2/3 of the way done. That's the green wool hat (currently just a tube at the moment), down below with the diamonds. At first it was super easy, then after lunch I kept messing up one row, un-knitting and re-knitting. So one of the diamonds is a bit screwy since I didn't catch it in time. (Sheyeah-right I'm not taking pictures of that though.)

On Tuesday, not wanting to mess up rows at work again (because I'm assuming it would not be good to say, stab the register with metal knitting needles), I started an easier pattern for a shawl to keep me busy during downtime. It is the Aubrey shawl from ravelry, and it is super easy, and kinda neat because as a triangle shawl, it's knitted from tip to tip (instead of top-down or point-up, which were the kinds that intimidated me initially). It is lacy too. I'm using a fingering/sock weight yarn, in a bizarre mix of yellow, gray?, and yellowy-orange, which at times, combined with the lace pattern, resembles honey-comb. Only I'm not all together crazy about the colors, and may give it away when it's done. I hope the Noro will knit up as well as this yarn does! (...and I was bad and bought a lot of 10 skeins of yarn for about $25...so if the Noro doesn't stand up maybe that yarn will do the trick...)

And now on to the pictures! (Both are still in prog.)

The Alaina beanie, aran diamonds with moss stitch and cable twists

The Aubrey shawl, tip to tip triangle in mystery fingering/sock yarn

This is something from a while ago-the super old book of magic tricks I found in a pile of junk at the end of someone's driveway. You might shudder at the thought of taking a mangy used book like this home, but it is 100 years old...so whether it was from a public library or off the street, it's gonna be ugly. Which is why I find it beautiful.