The terrifying truth is that between family visits and our honeymoon, during the six-week period ending on July 31, I will have spent more time away from home than at home. While every trip has been a delight (alert to sister-in-law-who-knows-who-she-is: don’t go pretending you think I’m saying I didn’t enjoy my time with you—you know we both had a blast!), I do fret a great deal about what the cats are getting up to in my absence. Has Bea gone completely feral? Who will have more puncture wounds when I return, Sparky or Penny? And did I adequately barricade the stash to keep it safe from bored felines (particularly a rotund little fellow with a middle name of Gladstone)?Â
Still, no matter how wide-ranging my travels or how all-encompassing my kitty-fretting is, I do make time to knit. It is, after all, what keeps me from going completely over the edge, even on trans-continental flights on which I am separated from Melissa and crammed into a non-reclining window seat on the back row of the plane. (Note that chivalrous Melissa had things even worse: she was wedged between two amply built business men who alternated between trying to sell her phone systems and providing stereophonic snores for her listening pleasure.)
So, without further ado, I present my Noro Mohana, based on the pattern by Smoking Hot Needles.
Here’s the whole thing.
And here’s a close-up of the middle and last lace patterns.
I really enjoyed knitting this piece—though you’ll notice that I omitted the loopy and time-consuming cast-off. Each lace pattern is simple enough to be manageable, but none goes on so long as to become boring. I’m planning to knit a second of these in solid-colored yarn, so that the stitch patterns will have a chance to stand on their own, but I’m pleased with how the self-striping yarn looks knit up. It’s Noro’s Kureyon Sock, and I have to say that based on this experience, I probably won’t be buying the yarn again. The colors are gorgeous, but the yarn was one snarl after another. I’d knit two or three rows, then spend ten minutes easing apart a handful of knots, knit again, then find myself fiddling with another wooly tumbleweed.
Mohana isn’t the only gorgeous free pattern that Smoking Hot Needles has on her site. Chack out her Grasshopper Scarf, “His Scarf” (which would make a great gift for someone of either gender), and the Kyla Fingerless Gloves. She’s really come up with some lovely pieces and is quite generous in sharing them.
By the way, I’ve decided to tuck this shawl carefully away, so that come next February I can use it as one of the prizes on my second annual blogiversay raffle. If you like it, you’ll have a chance to make it yours.