Road trip knitting

Tuesday last week provided an opportunity to do some "road trip" knitting. My try at knitting with beads on a road trip did not fair real well. I have this car sick tendency. Thankfully, knitting does not seem to be a problem, since I can almost do it in the dark. But having to concentrate on the placement of the beads caused me some discomfort. That is a real bummer, since I am working on 3 shawls that all use beads on them. Here is the shawl that I was working on....It is a half hex version of my Triangular Leaf Shawl. I am using Knitpicks Gloss lace weight in the color Raisin and coppery size 8 seed beads. It is so yummy!!! Thank you Denise for sending it to me! The beads really pop in real life. When I get it finished and block it, I hope you can see them better.
Sunday brought a much longer opportunity to do more "road trip" knitting and a chance to check out some yarn stores in NW Arkansas. Since I knew about the windiness of the roads up there, knitting with my beads was out of the question. I was rescued by one of my favorite yarns and a pattern that I had designed last fall and had not had a chance to make. It is called ZigZaginess. The yarn was a gift from Denise and she named the design. Thank you again Denise! I made incredible progress on it. I am over half way finished with it. I love the denim blues of this yarn. Here is my progress so far...Now on to the yarn store visits...My first store was KnitWicks at 103 West Walnut Street in Rogers, AR. It was located downtown in the historic area. It was a perfect place for a yarn store. They had a great selection of yarns and I was so tempted to squelch my frugal nature and buy more yarn that I don't really need. But I had a lovely time visiting with the young lady who was in charge that day. I came away with these lovely handmade buttons. I have no idea what I will use them on, but I thought they were really unique and they followed me home. I only wish that I could have spent the whole day knitting there.
Michael got finished early with his meeting and so I had the opportunity, on the way home, to stop in and visit Elizabeth at Stringtown Yarn & Fiber at 11 North 3rd Street, Fort Smith AR. It, too, was located in a downtown historic district. I have to admit that I was captivated by the charm of this shop. It was a perfect yarn store...comfortable, cozy, charming, and full of yarn! This skein followed me home. It is Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, 100% silk lace weight, 1100 yards of delicious, luxurious lace knitting indulgence! I petted it all the way home.....
I, also, bought a skein of Jojoland Melody to finish a scarf version of our Traveling Shawl. I hope to finish that this week. I still have lots more opportunities to knit coming the end of this week. I hope to finish my ZigZaginess and start a Triangular Leaf Shawl in some Jojoland Melody for a blog topic. I plan on taking my Lavender Fields Shawl design with me, too. It does not have as many bead placements as my Raisin colored shawl. I think it will be doable even on the road.
Knitting progress--see the above.
Traveling Shawl progress--It has made it to Jana in TX and she sent it to Joan in KS. 30 States down and 20 to go. Check out our blog here.