We have a winner and (almost) a shawl!

After an extremely scientific process, wherein I put all the entries into an Excel file, then used a random number generator to determine which entry was "the chosen one," a winner was selected for the blogiversary contest. Since said winner is three hours ahead of me, she's already posted about her win on her blog, but nevertheless, congratulations go to. . .

If you've never visited Monika's blog, Smoking Hot Needles, you're missing out on some great knitting content. I aspire to create one of her Vertigo scarves, and her other patterns rock, too. I'm sure she will create something marvelous from the Trekking and Debbie Bliss merino DK. Enjoy!

The "Knit for Joy Flock" at Heifer International currently has two sheep shares. Hey, it only takes two to multply and fill a field, right? If you feel so moved, please toss in a few latte's worth and buy a share. Ten bucks is, what, about three large lattes? Yet that little bit could really go a long way towards improving life for one family, who then helps another, who helps another, who helps. . . you get the idea. :)

In other knitterly knews, I'm almost finished with the feather and fan shawl. I've now officially gone through half the skein of yarn and the unblocked scarf is abou 58" long. This rayon yarn has a lot of heft to it and it pulls the lace out nicely, even without blocking. I'm not sure how it will "take" to blocking.

Anyway, here's a question for y'all: How long should I make this sucker? Obviously I'm not going to use all the yarn. If I did, I think the darned thing would be long enough to wrap up several people. But I'm not quite sure where to stop. Your opinions are needed! :)

You can see the next ball of yarn there resting on the rail. And yes, that's the same black dress used to model the Lace Wings shawl. See how I can get a completely different look from the same dress by just using a different shawl? Perfect for the cruise!