The Monday After

Hi Knitters,
It's the Monday after graduation and the rounds of graduation parties to attend. It has been a day of recovery, at the very least, a small moment to catch my breath. I bound off the Balm to the Soul Shawlette, designed by Jaala Spiro, this morning. It is the first shawl I have made out of my own handspun yarn, which feels kind of good. The roving/yarn is from Sunshine Yarns, another favorite of mine. The colorway is called Wintersong, which is as pretty as the shawl.

It's a great pattern and there is a Balm to the Soul Shawlette knitalong starting on June 15th if you are interested. I am a member of the knitalong group (see the link below) but I am not entered for prizes or anything like that so I just worked on my shawl and finished it early. If you are joining in the knitalong you should wait until the 15th to start.

This would be a good first lace project because the lace repeat is simple as simple could be. You have it memorized after two rows, the second row being all purl stitches. I highly suggest it!

You only need 300 yards of either a worsted or a dk weight yarn. Everyone has that hanging around, right?

Here are some links:
Jaala Spiro of Knit Circus
Balm to the Soul Shawlette pattern
Balm to the Soul Knitalong Ravelry group
Sunshine Yarns and Roving

My version is quite different than the one in the pattern photo. The handspun gives it a completely different feel and look. My gauge was not the same because my yarn was not even at all. This was a very early handspun of mine and so my spinning was not close to even at that time. I love the finished shawl and I can't wait to wear it. It was so much fun to knit this great little pattern with my handspun yarn.

I fudged around quite a bit with the lace and the final sequence. I didn't have quite enough yarn to complete the entire pattern for the dk weight yarn version. I'm not even sure my lace is quite right, I never counted the stitches and ended up off a little bit here and there but I don't mind one bit. It looks beautiful to me. I will wear it proudly. It is so nice not to worry about a project being perfect sometimes. When it is just for me I generously forgive my little goofs.

Here's what is left over for the yarn. I possibly could have sneaked in one more row but that's fine. I was guessing at every row near the end. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you don't.

It's fun to get a couple of shawls done this early summer. I don't know how much personal knitting time I will have over the next couple of months. I have lots of work projects going and coming up due. I am happy to have these sweet simple shawls under my belt already thanks to the lovely Jaala and her inspiring patterns. My guess is that you would love them, too. The other one I'm talking about is the Fruit Slice Shawlette.

Anyway, what a fun way to start off the week. We are hosting an enormous graduation party this coming weekend for my son and three of his buddies. There is so much work to be done, I can't even begin to think about it. I'll be taking it one step at a time. I know it will all get done and I am looking forward to the party.

I'll be back soon with a couple of blocked shawlettes to share. Hopefully I can get someone around here to snap a couple of photos with the shawls on my shoulders.

Happy Monday!
best, susie