I'm in the home stretch. No pictures until the shrug is finished since there's not much to see yet. Last night I seamed the sleeves and sides and picked up 300 stitches (ugh!) all around the body in size 9 needles. Working on such huge needles with tiny yarn is a pain though, so I cheated a bit and picked up using the size 3s I had been using for the body/sleeves and only changed to 9s once I started the ribbing.

Ribbing takes a *long* time - especially when you have to knit 6 inches of it, especially when there are 300 stitches! Before the ribbed border, I had two full skeins of the Alpaca & Silk left. I thought I would have one skein left over after all is said and done. Much to my surprise, I found that just 3 inches of ribbing took up almost an entire skein. So I guess I won't have anything left over after all!

My new apartment doesn't have a lamp or adequate lighting yet. The best light in the place is in the kitchen. So I was quite the sight - sitting in the middle of my kitchen, my laptop playing Lost cast interviews from YouTube, and struggling to knit the edging on my shrug. I really think I want to get one of those full spectrum lamps advertised to reduce eye strain. I love knitting, but sometimes my eyes really feel tired after an hours-long session with my needles.

I hope to have a picture up either tonight or tomorrow of the completed shrug!