Ah, that's why

From http://status.livejournal.org:

Since approximately 4:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time, Six Apart has been the victim of a sophisticated distributed denial of service attack. This has affected all of Six Apart's sites, causing intermittent and limited availability for TypePad, LiveJournal, sixapart.com, movabletype.org and movabletype.com. Our network operations staff is working around the clock with our Internet access providers to resolve the issue. We appreciate your patience and support, and will provide updates as we have them.

That explains why I'm not able to access most of the TypePad blogs. LJ is moving slower than molassas, dammit. Gah! Stupid Denial of Service attacks. *grumps*

This PSA brought to you by a lovely local pear hard cider. Mmm cider!

Suggestions

OK, I have about 920 yds of what is technically DK weight, but feels a LOT more like worsted weight 100% wool yarn. It's handpainted in lovely shades of rose, a peachy color, and a light-to-charcoal grey. (Sorry for the craptastic shot - me and my camera are still getting to know one another.

I'm looking for suggestions for a shawl to make for myself. I had started out with a basic garter drop rectangle (the Sarah Blanch shawl in the back) as I was going to just work on it while watching TV, but I think I'd like to do something a little more challenging.

I'm a big woman (fat, oh yes indeedydo!). I was working the Sarah Blanch on 10s rather than the suggested 7s because the yarn seemed a lot bigger than DK.

Any suggestions? I'm open to a variety of shapes, as long as I can secure the finished item around my person. In a fit of sleep deprived frustration last night, I ripped the few rows I had and started tinkering/swatching for other things. I can't find my copy of Three Cornered & Long Shawls anywhere, and the Stahman Shawls & Scarves book had some possibilities, but the few lacy patterns I tried out of it really weren't working. I think perhaps I could try the first, mostly garter shawl in the book, and possibly get a feel for Faroese shawl shaping, but I'm not jumping for joy at the thought.

The only shawl appealing to me with regards to this yarn in Folk Shawls is the Sarah Blanch, and my binder of loose leaf patterns (mostly Fiber Trends and some Fiddlesticks Knitting shawls, most of which are laceweight) failed to thrill me. I think I'd like a triangular, Faroese shaped or rectangular shawl for now, as they seem better suited towards more ample figures, especially with the amount of yarn I have available to me.

Anyway, suggestions = good!