There Is A Light At The End of The Tunnel

The CDC announced that we can unmask in most situations if we are fully vaccinated. This is great news, but still scary or awkward. My husband and I just had our first vaccine about 10 days ago. We will get our 2nd dose in a few weeks. Maybe then I will feel a little better about going without a mask, but this has been our normal for 14 months and I am feeling a little uneasy about unmasking. I won’t go into it all, but I am hoping this is a good sign of getting back to some normalcy.

So, I am still keeping busy by crafting. I am also trying to get myself into some kind of routine since hubby will probably being going back to working in the office soon. And that includes making sure that blogging is in my routine again. So where did I last leave off…Oh, I finished the Fairies in the Snow shawl that I was working on.

It turned out really nice and I even had a chance to wear it. I love it and can see myself making another one in different colors in the future. The pattern is available on Ravelry and the designer is Lena Matheson. The yarn I used is from The Speckled Finch.

Since then I have made another shawl. This one was a kit made especially for Local Yarn Shop Day April 2021.

When I started this kit, I wasn’t really sure I was going to like it. The directions were not very specific as in when to change colors and how many rows to do. I am one of those people that pretty much follows a pattern. So having to make some of my own decisions was a bit scary. But, I dived right in.

The pattern is You Are Enough by Sarah B. Abram. I met a very sweet gal on Ravelry who reached out to me about something I had placed on my project. So glad she did, as we chatted together throughout and she made some wonderful notes about her project and took some great photos. She was a big help when I had questions and she cheered me on to keep going.

Here is where I was working on the Picot edge bind off. I had never knitted a picot edge nor did I ever bind off this way. Be prepared on this one. It took me about 2 half days to get this bound off. But it was so worth it.

This week I got around to blocking it. Just look at how that lace opened up!! Knitting the lace was my favorite part of this pattern. I left out one of the repeats in the burgundy/gray section. So I added a few rows of garter stitch and that also brought my stitch count up to where it needed to be for the lace section. Yep, I added my own element! This pattern also suggested to add 2 rows of the next color, then 2 rows of the current color then continue with the next color. This meant lines of color in each pattern section. I knew from the beginning I did not want those lines of color, so I just switched colors when I was ready to. This really is a forgiving pattern.

It really turned out beautifully. It was finally a nice day out so I had to take a photo outside. This photo shows the true colors, too. I was a little leery about the colors together, but they have grown on me. I can’t wait to wear it in the fall.

The colors in this photo are off. But it looks so pretty hanging like this. In the end this was a really nice pattern and I really enjoyed it. If you have this kit and are looking to knit it up, be sure to check out the projects on Ravelry as there are some really good note takers there. I learned a few new stitches with shawl, and for that I am grateful. I am happy I knitted this one.

Next time I will talk about my cross stitch. So what have you been up to? Drop me a comment and tell me about it. I have missed you so much and I would love to hear about what you are up to.