Progress Report (1 week later): 3-1+1 = SUCCESS

My stated goals for the opening bout of summer knitting after the landmark "12 weeks/12 projects" post were three-fold: finish the stained glass bag and the back of the Candlelight Kimono, and keep working on the beaded edging for the Evenstar.

Well... After getting through the first task in short order (obviously enough), I then went out of town for the long weekend to attend my 25th high school reunion, which was also remarkably the 350th anniversary of the school's founding back in 1660. I actually wore the bag to the reunion. You can see it peeping out in various photos that people have posted. So that felt like a significant victory.

I am also happy to report that I managed to stay on track over the weekend and have now completed the back of the kimono and gotten started the two fronts, which I decided to knit side-by-side in aid of the symmetrical shaping at waist and neckline. Here are some pictures as proof that I am not just telling make-believe stories. Click on any one of them to take a closer look.

I decided for a bunch of reasons (mainly luggage constraints and for the sake of practicality) not to travel with any beaded lace projects, and so I did not make any progress on the Evenstar over the weekend. But I DID bring along the Unst stole, and I was able to work on it quite extensively en route in both directions and in between as well.

It felt a bit awkward at first, picking it up after so long a hiatus. I definitely had to re-familiarize the muscles in my fingers with the tiny movements demanded by knitting with gossamer yarn and 1.5 mm (US size 000 needles). So I started by tinking back several rows, partly to make sure that I knew exactly where I was on the chart, and also to get used to handling it again. But by the time I had made my connection and embarked on the second leg of my journey on Thursday afternoon, I was already moving forward with confidence. And when I landed yesterday at my home airport, I had added several inches to the unblocked length of the piece. To put it another way, I stopped knitting a year ago with 4 out of 9 repeats of the modified center pattern complete (see left, which is a closeup from an old photo rather than a whole new one), and I am now 3/4 of the way through the *6th* pattern repeat. LOTS of happy progress!! Other projects are beckoning and will have to take priority in the next 2-3 weeks, but nonetheless I would be very pleased to finish the center and move on to the border patterns by the end of this month.

All of which means that I set out last week to do three things, and did two of them plus another unexpected one that was slated to happen soon. So I hereby officially proclaim this first bout of knitting a success.