The weather has been beautiful the last few days! I have spent most of my time outside playing with my son and our new dog Luna and gardening. We have pea shoots starting to climb the trellis, okra poking through the soil, and freshly planted chard, kale, and parsley seedlings. We have established a good household rhythm and I enjoy spending time with my child and husband. However, I'm still disappointed about everything we missed this year: Mother's Day at my son's preschool, exploring the forest with friends, Tinkergarten, and my local yarn shop (LYS) Echo Valley Fiber's annual shawl contest.
Each spring my LYS hosts a shawl contest. Shawls may be of any size or shape and either knit or crocheted. Over the last two years, I entered one of my original knitting creations. The first year, I received the fourth prize with Hypatia, a half-circle shawlette named after a woman mathematician from ancient Alexandria. It features bold geometric shapes and uses the principles of pi for its construction. Last year, I was inspired by the creations of Elizabeth Zimmerman and decided to conquer my first circle or pi shawl, Garden Path. I enjoyed working out how each stitch pattern would fit into the ever-increasing stitch and row count. I was thrilled to win second prize, a skein of Arctic Treasure yarn in an exquisite emerald green color. Arctic Treasure is 60% Quiviut, 20% Superwash Merino, and 20% Silk. Quiviut is the underwool of a muskox. It is considered to be warmer than sheep wool and softer than cashmere. This skein of yarn feels so soft and smooth!
Of course, not knowing what was yet to come, I signed up for this year's Shawl Crawl and chose my yarn right before our area went into lockdown. For yarn, I used Forest Hills Multis by Cascade Yarns. This fingering weight yarn is 51% Silk and 49% Merino Wool. It is easy to work with and produces a lovely multicolored look in violet, indigo, and new forest green hues.
For the design, I went with a rectangular shawl featuring a bed of early Snowdrop flowers flanked on either side by climbing vines. It reminds me of early spring when the first flowers are starting to peek their heads through the soil to the warm sunshine. This week would have been when I needed to complete knitting my design and turn it into the LYS so the judging could begin.
I took a little break from Japanese knitting charts this week to work on my shawl. It won't be part of the Shawl Crawl this year but it's still a pretty garment and enjoyable to knit.
Click here for the Dreaming of Spring knitting pattern.
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