How does this post find you? Hopefully, you're just peachy and all this wintriness isn't getting you down. I'm ambivalent about winter: I'd much rather be cold than warm, I love stodgy, stick-to-your-ribs type comfort food (I'm talking about you, dumplings!) and naturally my chosen craft means I can whip up an array of hats and scarves; but on the other hand, the short days really get me down and all that wool does NOT mix well with all the rain we're getting!
So, post-New Year, I had a massively lazy weekend of crochet, chocolate, TV (mainly darts, I love it!) and hanging out with my other half and our dog. I'd take that over a weekend of debauched partying EVERY time - I used to worry that, by not wanting to go out to sweaty bars on the lash any more, I was missing out but I've long since come to terms with that!
With Christmas out of the way my hooky plan is to finish off some WIPs, beginning with the Beatrix shawl kit I bought from Truly Hooked (https://www.facebook.com/trulyhooked/ or https://www.etsy.com/shop/TrulyHooked) - I got the pattern, plus a lovely gradient dyed sock blank in 'Electric Peacock' when I was at the Handmade Fair in September. I'd started it before all those pesky xmas makes got in the way and it is most DEFINITELY for keeps!
At this point, I'll confess that I try and work in US terms as much as I can so I find I'm constantly reminding myself of what I should be doing when working in UK terms, but the pattern was clear, easy to follow and even included a chart which I found really handy. I hadn't worked from a sock blank before and had some misgivings about how it would affect tension and counting stitches because the yarn is so wiggly as it unravels, but if anything this helped as you were supposed to keep the tension loose. And the finished shawl gets blocked to within an inch of it's life anyway!
Once I picked the shawl back up, I had it finished in two mammoth, darts-fuelled sessions. I was using a 5mm hook in this lovely, warm, polished wood that is one of my faves which helped! I am in love with the colours in the gradient and the transitions between them look absolutely great, there's no big jumps from one colour to the next. The shawl was transformed by blocking, it really opened up the lacy stitches and my slightly improvised border looks like it belongs there, phew!
In short: buy the kit. Or at least the pattern! I'm already planning another. But for now I'm going to enjoy wearing project #1 of 2016!
