Vacation

Why am I posting about this bush?

Well, it's not just that we're too lazy to trim the honeysuckle. We had a mama cardinal make her nest right up to our window. We got to watch her, the eggs, and now the two (?) chicks. Only the mom sits on the eggs but as soon as they hatch the dads take on half the feeding duties. It's very cool to watch - I have a feeder at my office so I've seen families of cardinals feeding like this - both parents feeding juveniles who can fly already. Sadly, the honeysuckle keeps growing so it's harder and harder to see what goes on in the nest. 

In knitting news, I finished my second Cotlin Pipit. I added a little more shaping to it and I like it a lot. I'll get someone to take my picture next week. 

I've started on Timamtti (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/timantti) with some Green Mountain Spinnery sock yarn in green.  I think I'll add beads to the diamonds when I get to them:

I like the pattern as it's a shawl rather than a shawlette, those mini shawls which I'm kind of over. They just don't stay put on my shoulders or have enough heft to display their patterns very well.  

And finally, in my stashbusting quest I found this pattern which I loved (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/funky-grandpa) which I think would be perfect with some Knitpicks Palette - grey, black and the stripes in blues and purples. Maybe with a zipper?

I'm still on the fence about the Kauni vest. I don't think the pattern I picked has even enough 2 color distribution, so the yarn gets lost. I'm about to frog it - but I'm open to suggestions: