It's true... you can never go home again.

Especially when they appropriate your bedroom for other purposes.
My Dad - who I affectionately refer to as "Skip" - has been a busy boy, spending his holidays renovating my old room. There are new walls, ceilings, lighting, and a spanky new floor.

He repainted - partly because he had to rip out most of the drywall to get at a mold problem, but mostly because Mom never liked the the paint I chose when I lived there. It was a lovely, warm beigey-pink, called "doe skin", but mom just called it "that yucky band-aid colour you ruined your room with". The new colour is "Angel Whisper" - dad picked it out and it's a light purply pink.

Now despite the fact it means I can't go back to living rent free - I really can't complain. In a few weeks the room will be the new head quarters of Wandering Cat Yarns. Currently, we dye in Mom's laundry room, using the washer, dryer and freezer as work stations and then run up and down the stairs constantly to the kitchen - it will be nice to have everything in one place - and to not have to watch Mr. Tibbs use the facilities, as the laundry room is also the litter box room.

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I have no progress to show you on Helena because I got a little side tracked. After ranting on about Shawlettes, I've gone and cast on for one.

It wasn't my intention to do so - after the last dye session, I brought home 400 yards of Top Cat. It was in two skeins- the yarn that's left over from the cones. Mom dyed it up in "Mermaid's Treasure" for me and it was sitting on my coffee table, taunting me - I had to see how it would look knit up.

I planned to make a longer pair of Undines with it. So I cast on for them (even though I have THREE pairs of socks already in progress). But the gold was pooling all on one side, so I decided it would have to be shawlette or a scarf.

Since I don't really like knitting scarves (too long, too boring) I decided to cast on for Zetor instead, since it's very easy to customize the size. I figured I can wear it as a scarf like my Frost Leaves, or put it in the Christmas box and decide who to give it too later.

It's a great pattern with a good rhythm, and I haven't been able to put it down.It's reached the status of "knitting blob" and is too big to stretch out on the needles for a good picture, but I took a pic last night before it got too big, so you can see the pattern:

It's hard to say, how big it will end up. I'm not quite through 200 yards yet, and it's already 24 inches wide unstretched - and this puppy has a lot of stretch. Of course the last 200 yards will get used up quicker because the rows get longer, but it will be interesting to see how large it is when blocked.

Regardless of how this one turns out - I will be making a large Zetor - I love this pattern.

I'm not sure about the colour - it looks really pretty in the skein, but knit up I think the yellow is a little too strong. I'd prefer it with more pink and beige, and lighter yellow - which is how Mom has done the previous Mermaid's Treasure - but that's part of the beauty of hand painted yarns - every skein is unique!

I still plan to finish Helena up this week - mostly because I want to start on a pair of matching Baby Janes - they are just so adorable!