Yes, yes, there are the details—like earning a living, putting food on the table, covering one’s nakedness, and preparing for retirement—but they matter only insofar as they make shawl knitting possible. That’s how I see it.
The hectic-crazy at work has been amping up over the last month, so I’ve responded by digging through my stash of pattern print-outs and choosing projects that are pleasing, but not overly demanding. Anything with a provisional cast-on or that requires multi-directional knitting has put put aside. I’ve been in desperate need of some smooth sailing.
First up is Vortex, pattern by Kristina McCurley, knit in Poems Sock.
Watching the wider spiral of eyelets spread out across the tighter rings of color kept the knitting interesting.
Vortex is for my niece, Miss Sparkles, whom I will be visiting in just a few weeks. I imagine it draped across her legs as she stretches out for some evening reading.
And I’d been meaning to knit a Clothilde for ages.
I don’t remember exactly what this yarn is, but I do remember that it’s half wool and half cashmere and that I picked it up from Elann for a ridiculously cheap price. It’s a single, so it’s bound to pill—but the softness is unbelievable.
Because Clothilde is a simple pattern, I didn’t recgonize it as a must-knit right away. But as I followed last year’s 10 Shawls in 2010 group on Ravelry, over and over again the Clothildes jumped out at me. The crisp lines and lacy edge look great in a huge variety of yarns—just check out the 600+ projects posted on Ravelry if you want proof.
Last of all is Holden in some yummy Alpaca Sox. I’m planning to give this one to my sister, Miss Sparkles’ mother.
This pattern has a feature I love: effective use of occasional purl rows to make the design pop.
You can’t tell in this photo, but I used Holden as an opportunity to play around with shawl shaping, adding to the number of increases as I went along. Writing shawl patterns is high on my agenda once I get through this quarter (I’m not teaching spring quarter—huzzah!) and I want to come up with some shapes beyond the basic triangle and rectangle.