Frogging the Flower Basket Shawl (again)

Here's the Flowerbasket shawl -- before I ripped it all out and started over. You see, I got up to 10 pattern repeats -- and the shawl is supposed to be DONE at 7 repeats (at least, as a shoulder-shawl), but it's not even close. The gauge is too small. I figured I'd go down two needle sizes, because I nearly always do, and even though I swatched, it's not right. I want the larger, more open look on the original shawl pattern, and this just isn't it.Yarn Harlot has also been knitting the Flower Basket, and you can see the result is much more open. I've been doubting my results all along, and seeing her pics just confirmed my doubts and made me decide to start over, rather than try to finish and have a project I was unhappy with. The upside: It should take less time to reknit, because the stitches will be larger. It took me about a week to do 10 repeats; probably will take the same amt of time to do 7, I'm guessing. 

Nephew Socks feedback

I got a call from my sis in MA, who put the boys on the phone to thank me for the socks. They like them! Woo hoo! Kids can be SO picky. And apparently CJ, the younger one, likes his so much that she had to go to Target and get more colorful socks for him because he refuses to wear white ones anymore. Love it...

They were also very pleased with the sponge-dinosaur-capsules and Where The Wild Things Are DVD I sent (told Jeanne it was an Un-Birthday Present). But at least they liked the socks, which matters more to me.

They're done! Here are the socks -- one from each pair -- that I knitted for my nephews. They went out in the mail today. I also sent a DVD of "Where the Wild Things Are", and the Hermione hat for my middle sis (the boys' mom). 

My dog Sparky, who likes to lie in the mud. Wierd dog. 

Victorian socks -- from antique store, with original tags 

Sango Kaku Japanese maples, and a dogwood, in my yard 

18th c. mitts -- I still need to do some research on the pattern before publishing it.