This past weekend was fairly busy. Friday night was a graduation/birthday party for my cousin's oldest daughter. Elisabeth graduated from high school this year and will be attending Messiah College in the fall.
In real life, Elisabeth is not blurry (she was also eating in this picture - I was trying for un-posed pictures).
I knit the Irene Adler shawl as her graduation gift. A shawl is like a hug, right? And I'm sure there will be times in college that she'll need a hug. Or, maybe she'll just need a beautiful accessory to wear with a dress, or something to keep her warm on cool nights or in air conditioning. Or, a pillow/blanket/wrap to use while traveling.
I finished Irene Adler 6/15/14, but couldn't share the pictures until I had given it to Elisabeth. So, here is Irene Adler:
Blocking. I blocked it outside and the sun was HOT that day. The shawl was almost dry by the time I finished pinning it. It was a little bigger than the pattern called for (I'm not big on swatching for shawls when I know that I have plenty of yarn & the yarn I was using has 950 yd/skein).
I ended up knitting the medium size. It was Sunday, I knew that the upcoming week wouldn't allow much knitting time, and the party was the following Friday. So I decided to stop with "medium". It's still a good-sized shawl, it just doesn't have the extra fanciness at the edge.
I used Tosh Lace yarn in the Spectrum colorway. This colorway has blues, purples, greens and some deep red. It is beautiful! The yarn is soft, and light, and warm. I knit with size US 5 needles.
The pattern is well-written, and comes with both chart and written instructions. I really enjoyed knitting this shawl. It was a challenge for me (I had to make sure my mind didn't wander, and I couldn't knit this while interacting with people).
Here's a close-up:
Better lighting, you can see the yarn colors better. Ignore the glare from my desk.
My cousin, Lori (Elisabeth's mom), agreed to model the shawl for me. Elisabeth was in the pool with her friends.
Irene Adler makes you so happy that you have to dance around...
The weather Friday was beautiful. Lori always has yummy food at parties she throws. She even had vegetarian sloppy joe's for me (& her brother-in-law). Elisabeth is smart and works hard and is such a wonderful young woman. I can't wait to see what's next for her.
Saturday was a laid-back day, spent knitting and reading. This came in the mail:
This is my June Yarnbox shipment. It is 3 (!) skeins of Artyarns yarns. The small skein on top is silk with sequins and glass beads. It is beautiful! The other two skeins are superwash merino.
I've been wanting to try the linen stitch. Also, I've been reading past posts from Kirsten's blog. I love her designs and her use of color. When I saw these two skeins of yarn from Artyarns, I knew that they would become a linen stitch scarf. I think I will add a fringe to the scarf, too. I love how the multi-colored yarn and the semi-solid yarn look when put together. Also, I needed a project that I could knit while interacting with people. My other project is the TTL Mystery Shawl, which is a (beautiful!) lace shawl. I cannot knit lace and talk to people.
How did you spend your Summer Solstice? Did you have some extra knitting time?
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