It’s only mid-February and it appears that spring has arrived here in Wetumpka, Alabama. I went on a walk with the boys and I looked up (a practice I encourage everyone to do from time to time) and saw the tulip trees (Japanese Magnolias?) were in full bloom. From the looks of things it’s going to be a gorgeous first Alabama spring for us.
I’m slowly working on this Leaf Cowl with Buttons pattern by Michele C. Meadows. It’s the first time I’ve knit anything like this. It’s easy, but has enough stitch variation to keep it interesting. Good thing since I easily become bored with long projects. I have 1 1/3 rounds left of the stitch pattern before I bind off.
I’ve recently joined a Facebook group called The Fiber Muse Circle. It has been a great source of inspiration and knowledge. I participated in the 5 Days 5 Shawls Challenge by Aroha Knits. Though I was familiar with many of the techniques, there were moments that I wanted to toss my DPNs aside. I stuck it out and put together some pretty cool little shawl samples. My son loved to see what I had completed that evening and gave them his own interpretation. You can follow the progress on my Instagram account.
I had some blocking issues, and the 3/4 shawl was supposed to be a square shawl, but I had the hardest time fumbling with fingering weight yarn on size three needles. Joining just four stitches is not easy, let me say.
I’ve also found that knitting while parenting has proven to be difficult. My mind wants to knit, but I have littles tugging at my pants leg, or grabbing my yarn balls. I get the most I can out of my evenings, but even those are cut short because I need to sleep, imagine that. Being well rested is crucial to being a good parent, or at least a parent that isn’t a grump.
In addition to mini knitting challenges, another benefit of joining knitting and design groups is that I see a bunch of very talented fiber artists releasing their latest designs on Ravelry. It’s so hard not to buy every one I see. This one caught my eye though.
This is the Laced Tipped Shawl by Jill Fink of Finknits. It’s probably only the second pattern I’ve ever purchased (I plan to support designers more. They are an important part of the fiber industry). What drew me to this pattern was the color choices and the variation of angles juxtaposed with the variety of knitting stitches. It creates wonderful texture and dimension. I look forward to knitting this up sometime after I’ve finished my smaller projects.
Mama Knit Love 