Tadpole Tuesday: Texas Edition

Chez Tinks and Frogs has moved to Texas for a family vacation this week. A large extended family makes for plenty of baby sitters and we are taking full advantage.

It's been quite a change for us. We left this

For this

That's right. Sun and new Quince yarn from my sister (and a few other things, too). There are two other colors - a deep charcoal heather and a bright cherry red - but Tadpole only wanted to hold one skein at a time. The new grey heathers from Quince are really lovely and I think they're a limited run so grab some if you get the chance. I'm contemplating another stash diet for next year (I really should) so that means I'm just going to enable everyone else.

Happy Holidays and warm wishes from my family to yours. I'll see you next year.

Tadpole Tuesday: almost Wednesday

I was going to put off writing this week's post until tomorrow. Mr. Tinks and Frogs and I were watching an old episode of Lost and I was too enthralled by Stripe Study (ten stripes!) to put my knitting down and write up a post.

But the show has moved from tame expository episodes to incredibly well crafted suspense sequences. And, to be perfectly honest, I'm still too caught up in thinking about the latest cliff hanger that I really don't want to go to sleep on it. So blog post time it is.

I suppose this installment should have been titled "How did she get so big?"

A couple of months ago, I knit up another aviatrix hat for Tadpole. It was way too big on her - so big that it kept falling over her eyes when we weren't looking. So I set out to make a replacement until aviatrix v3 fit a bit better.

This was aviatrix 1.0

I had plenty of Anzula Cricket yarn from the first aviatrix left in the stash so I picked up another skein in a lovely charcoal grey from my LYS to make a colorwork hat.

Three attempts in I realized that not only had I screwed up the short rows on the ear flaps and forgotten to attach the foldover hem (those were attempts one and two) but I just didn't like the color combination. I did the only logical thing - I went and bought yet another skein to contrast with the grey. So much for stash dieting on this project.

I needed a stationary model

The fourth time was the charm. I'm always amazed at how quickly stranded colorwork knits up. Perhaps it's because I just want to see what comes next. Or perhaps it's that I knit with one color in each hand so it feels like I'm doing more with each row.

I finished the hat up in no time and it was a perfect fit.

 All my indoor shots are "take it off!" action shots

Once it gets chilly, hats are fine

But then Tadpole wore it again this past weekend and the hat was already looking too small. Babies grow much too fast! Thank goodness I have so much of that yarn left - I can eaily make another hat in the next size up.

Yes, that's snow (and three teeth)

A quick note about the pattern and then I've really got to get some sleep. (I've linked to the exact pattern on my ravely project page). I got this from the book "Hats Off" by Charlene Schurch, a fabulous collection published by Down East Books. The designs are interesting and look great knit up. But here's my favorite part: the designer never talks down to you. She just assumes that you know what you're doing and gives instructions accordingly. I love that! Sure, I tried a few different ways to work the short rows on the ear flaps, but her directions told me exactly what needed to happen so that I could figure out how I wanted to make that work. The big picture was always clear. I wish more knitting patterns were like that.

Stripes!

Stripe study is addictive. Here's the shot from last weekend:

And here is where I am today:

Twice as many stripes! The colors are more accurate in the first pic. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some striping to do.

Tadpole Tuesday: Blankets for Baby

My work-life balance has been pretty heavy on the work side lately, so I'm even more behind than usual in responding to blog comments. Replies are coming, I promise.

Rachel reminded me that I haven't even mentioned what colors I'm using for stripe study. I actually have a picture for this one but I haven't gotten it off the camera yet (or double checked to make sure it came out clearly since the battery was just about dead when I took the shot). So I'll just give a quick answer for now: dark blue for the thick stripes and vibrant green for the thin stripes and wide boarder.

And try to distract you from my lack of evidence of stripe study progress with some baby pictures.

Better now?

I knit a bit on my latest garter stitch-based baby blanket for Tadpole during a break from work this weekend (yes it was one of those weekends) and that got me thinking about baby blankets more generally.

I've knit two blankets for Tadpole and we use two handknit blankets for her, but they're not the same two. As I typed that I could have sworn I've knit three blankets for her but I must be counting the one on the needles in that list (or the several I have in my mental queue, although you'd have to discount each queued project by the likelihood of completion in order to have the several equal one . . . but I digress).

I'll start with the ones we use. First up is a great reversible, machine washable wool blanket that my sister made for Tadpole (pictured above). It's mostly a "going out" blanket that we use with the stroller or car seat because it squishes up nicely and doesn't take up a lot of room.

Mr. Tinks and Frogs also uses it as an extra layer of warmth when Tadpole goes out in the Bjorn. It's a fabulous all-purpose blanket. (Thanks again, M!)

Next up is the bear claw blanket that I made a few years ago. I was a bit hesitant to use this one at first because, not to put to delicate a word on it, babies tend to get fluids of various sorts everywere. And I really like this blanket. Yes, I know that Baby Ull is machine washable but I know happened when I machine washed my Baby Ull socks: they shrunk and pilled and got all fuzzy. That's fine for socks that had a too tight-bind off on the cuff to be a favorite pair anyway, but not what I want in a blanket that took me over a year to complete.

So we started off slow and easy: it's tough for a sleeping baby to get a blanket dirty (ok, that's not entirely accurate but we have lucked out on that front).

Then we took her to the appropriate setting - our LYS.

Babies just need more yarn. Or at least their parents do.

The bear claw is still a sleeping blanket.

It's showing a bit of wear - the ends are starting to come a bit loose and fray on the wrong side. That's understandable since there's nothing sticky about a machine washable wool to keep the ends secure. I'm not worried about the piece unravelling. It just looks well loved, as it should.

That's two blankets, one I made and one we received as a gift. The third we've used only for pictures. I'm sure you'll understand why.

The Honey Baby blanket is filed under "baby knit" but it's much more for me than for her. All those yarn overs would be lots of fun for little fingers to investigate, if I were willing to suffer the accompanying distortions to the stitch pattern. I knit this piece as a work of love for my daughter before she was born and it's a beautiful manifestation of the feelings I had for someone who was more of an idea than a reality for me at that point. This isn't a blanket to catch spit-up and drool or cheerios dropped during a car ride home. It's a keepsake that I get to hold onto until I'm ready to give it up; a reminder of the tiny baby who is growing up much faster than I ever expected.

The fourth blanket - the one I inched forward this weekend - falls somewhere in between "keepsake" and "every day." I'm making this one as another crib blanket, something a bit lighter than the bear claw, and as such it can be a bit more intricate than the stroller cover. But I want to make sure we actually use it. So it can't be too delicate.

That's the balance I like to strike with blankets for baby. You really can't have just one. There's the every day, use it anywhere blanket that's your go-to piece as you're heading out the door. Maybe you have another one or two in the same category or a bit more delicate that you use for quiet time. And then you have your heirloom piece that's purely sentimental. And knowing that you have one exquisite piece to represent all of your warm, snuggly, clean, and sleep-filled thoughts about the little one lets you roll on the floor with the everyday blanket and wear it threadbare with use.

Tadpole Tuesday: the Turtle Vest

About a year ago I had posted about a quick little vest that I whipped up for Tadpole, using a cable chart from one of the Barbara Walker treasuries. I was taken by the turtle motif and came up with a simple design that used up a not-quite-full skein of Dream in Color Classy that I had in the stash. I had absolutely no idea what size I was making. But now I do - it fit 8 month old Tadpole (yes, these pictures are from a month ago) well with plenty of room to grow.

The turtle really is my favorite thing about this piece. And the fact that it took me something like 5 hours to make, even including frogging the whole thing a couple of inches in and starting over.

I'm thinking of making a second one, probably out of Tosh Vintage, and changing the bottom hem and the border of the turtle pattern to garter stitch. 

So I have a question for you: if I were to knit up another one, would you like me to write up the pattern?

I'm using the word "pattern" here very loosely. I wouldn't include the turtle chart, since Barbara Walker designed and published it (in her third treasury, I believe) and I don't want to violate copyright. Instead, I'd write up how to make a baby-sized vest and include some sort of panel design on the front. 

This girl needs a second turtle vest, right? So I'd better go get some projects off the needles first. Stripe Study, here I come!

Exciting stuff

Well hello again. It's been a while, hasn't it? We have some exciting things going on at chez Tinks and Frogs.

First off, I thought I'd start a new feature: Tadpole Tuesdays. My knitting is not nearly as prolific as it used to be now that I'm back at work so I figured it's time to spice things up on the blog front. Every Tuesday I'm going to comment on some aspect of knitting for baby. What this really means is that you'll probably get lots of cute pictures of Tadpole wearing handknits that I made a while ago but didn't have any modeled shots to show.

For today's Tadpole Tuesday, I'm debuting my second pattern: the appropriately named Tadpole's Purple Sweater, which you may remember from the summer.

Tadpole has gotten quite a bit bigger since the first photo shoot (she was four and a half months old at the time) but the sweater still looks great on her at almost nine months old. Quick digression: when did that happen?!?!

The pattern is available as a free ravelry download here.

One final bit of excitement - I'm on twitter! Disclaimer: what I mean by "I'm on twitter!" is that I've signed up and haven't done anything else at this point.

Why am I telling you this? Jacey, Phoe, Lauren, Erin, and I are doing a knit-a-long for Stripe Study. Since the other four ladies were already on twitter (and since it can take a while to get up a blog post - I'm looking at you, cat sitting on my lap where the computer should be), I thought I'd take the plunge and tweet the KAL. That's not to say that I won't blog about it, too, but this way I can talk about what I'm doing without worrying so much about pictures during the week. And that's really nice when I can only try to get good shots on the weekends these days.

Wish me luck!

Slow and steady

See that? Catkin is seven rows father along than I was this time last week. I'm making progress! Maybe I'll have this finished by Thanksgiving. Maybe.

And I'm almost done with the first skein on Tadpole's new blanket. I'm so close, in fact, that I need to wind the second skein today. I may not get to it tonight but at least it'll be ready.

I'm actually spinning more than I'm knitting these days. Tadpole and I can both play at the wheel (admittedly in different ways) on weekend mornings and I get a surprising amount of spinning done. Hmm, maybe I should sit us down this afternoon since we didn't get a session in this morning. I bet Tadpole would like that!

Distractions

You know that point in a project where you feel like you're never going to finish? That's how I feel about Catkin right now. It's gorgeous, really gorgeous. The yarn just glows - something that Madelinetosh seems to manage better than any other yarn provider out there right now.

But I finished chart B the other night and now I'm stuck. It's not that chart C looks particularly difficult, it's just that there are a few new stitches I'm going to have to memorize and I'll need to pay attention during the set-up row. So I probably should do the first row of the chart all at once and I just don't have the energy (or time) for that right now.

The textures in this little shawl are just so interesting (and really perfect in the Tosh merino light) that I'm pretty motivated to find some time this week when I can sit down with an audiobook and get through the first row or two. Mr. Tinks and Frogs is doing NaNoWriMo again this year so I should sell this to him as "writing time."

My seat-of-the-pants hap blanket project has been a good companion these past few weeks. I'm still working on the garter stitch center square, which means I have plenty of mindless knitting. I'm working the square on the bias - increasing one stitch at the beginning of each row until the triangle looks big enough. In this case, "big enough" will be whatever size I have when I run out of yarn in the first skein. Then I'll decrease one stitch at the beginning of each row until I'm back to a single stitch. The next step is to pick up stitches around the edges and work a border in the round. I'm using the guidelines for proportions set out in the book "Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls" but otherwise making this one up as I go.

I bet I'd make more progress on these two projects if I didn't keep getting distracted by other "quick" projects for Tadpole. Like this one.

It's getting cold here and Tadpole needed a pair of mitts. I figured it would be easy enough to whip up a quick pair and secure them with a crochet chain. It only took me four tries to get a size that I thought looked appropriate. They'll fit this week but she'll definitely need bigger ones soon. And I'm having fantasies of whipping up a little pair in stranded colorwork. That'll be quick, right? No more than 2 hours tops?

I finished up another aviatrix hat for her three weeks ago and finally put buttons on it last week. Maybe by the time I get pictures of it she'll have grown into it a bit more. It's enormous on her right now but perhaps that means it'll make it through the winter.

I was going to tell you about all of the really nifty yarns and patterns that I keep drooling over instead of working on my current WIPs (Loft, anyone?). But I've got work stuff I need to do this weekend so that will have to wait until later. Instead, I'll just leave you with my latest exception to the stash diet:

Stripe Study just got bumped up in the queue.

Change of pace

We have had quite a whirlwind here at chez Tinks and Frogs this past week or so. I went back to work on Monday for the first time since Tadpole was born, starting an exciting (and sometimes scary and stressful) new job. And Mr. Tinks and Frogs switched from working a a job that required a certain amount of travel to being a full-time stay at home dad. One of those changes was expected.

We had hired a nanny to come care for Tadpole and had a transition week before I started work. Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending on how you look at it - we discovered that the nanny was not working out as hoped and we had to figure out alternate child care just days before I was set to start my new job. All I can say is that I have an amazing husband and it was such a weight off my shoulders going in to work on Monday knowing that he was taking care of Tadpole.

But this is a knitting blog, I'm sure you're thinking. What does all this mean for knitting? Well, it means that I haven't really done a lot in the last week or so. Catkin progresses slowly but steadily. It's a relatively straightforward knit at this point but still takes concentration and energy that I didn't always have in the evenings. My newest project, a blanket for Tadpole, is moving a bit more quickly - at least in terms of number of rows completed. But it, too, grows slowly since it's worked in fingering weight yarn on tiny needles. A picture will probably have to wait until next weekend, although you won't notice much difference since it's just a garter stitch center square worked on the bias at this point. That garter stitch has come in handy this week when I was just too exhausted for anything else.

What else do these changes mean? They mean that I didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned in the week the nanny was here. I had whittled my to-do list down to a manageable level and was making great progress until we had a bit of a scare Wednesday night. So I spent Thursday keeping a close eye on what was going on in the apartment and agonizing over whether my anxiety had more to do with new job nerves or genuine concerns about the nanny. We let her go Friday morning. As you'll understand, that sapped any energy that I might have had for pattern writing and Tadpole's Purple Sweater is still unpublished.

But I did finish something that week!

Happy Early Birthday, Sis! I had asked my sister whether she minded if I posted her birthday present on the blog or if I should keep it a secret for another month and a half. Knowing I have a terrible time keeping gifts secret, especially ones I'm really excited about, she said to go ahead. Then, when I hadn't posted anything for a while, she cheekily asked if Tadpole's latest purple sweater was meant to be her gift and whether I had made a bit of a mistake with the sizing on that one. And since I forgot to respond to that email (sorry!), I'll answer now: nope, this is your gift.

And this is 500 yards of roughly worsted weight 2-ply 70/30 merino/silk blend. It's soft and bouncy and has that lovely little crunch that silk does. It'll make a perfect present, assuming I can pack it up and put it in the mail sometime between now and the end of next month.

The combed top was a beautiful blend of reds, greens, and golds that were given a muted sheen when spun up with the silk. I actually find merino/silk blends easier to spin than straight merino because the long staple length of the silk makes drafting a bit more manageable.

The yarn will come with a pattern or two. I have a couple of ideas but I'd love to hear suggestions.

FO: Another purple sweater

Somehow purple seems to have become my new favorite color. At least for Tadpole. It clearly says "Hi, I'm a girl!" without being that color I can only think of as baby girl pink, two very good things in my book.

I meant to knit this skein up into a baby sweater a while ago but I never quite got around to it until this past month. It was sure worth the wait!

After I hung up the phone from scheduling a 6-month photo shoot for Tadpole, I had the brilliant - and delusional - idea that I would whip up a new sweater for her to wear in the pictures. I had a week and that was enough time, right?

This was a quick knit but not that quick. It took me two weeks instead of the one I had planned.

Project specs:

Yarn: About 9/10 of a skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the flashdance colorway
Needles: size 2 addi lace circulars (magic loop on the sleeves)
Size: 19" chest circumference, which fits 7 month old Tadpole over a long sleeve onesie
Pattern: A sheet of scribbles loosely modeled on the Tea Leaves Cardigan

This is the first top-down baby sweater that I've done completely from scratch. The top-down method is pretty simple but what had always stumped me was knowing how many stitches to cast on for the neck. It's all smooth sailing after that but everything (especially if you're using the EPS) follows from that first number. I worked backwards from the chest measurement and got the figures I needed but afterwards I sat down and came up with a formula that should work every time.

Here we go . . .

Basic Formula for a Top-Down Yoke Increase Baby Cardigan

We'll do the math first and then the "pattern" second.

1. Knit a swatch. All you really care about is stitch gauge here so work the quickest swatch that will get you that number. Write down your stitch gauge.

2. Figure out how big around you want the chest of the sweater to be. 19-20" should be safe for a 6-12 month old baby. Err on the side of making the piece too big since babies will always grow into the sweater eventually.

3. Multiply your stitch gauge by your desired chest circumference to get your key number (K).

Quick digression: since this is a baby sweater, you probably want a cardigan instead of a pullover so you might need to tweak your K a bit so that the piece divides nicely in the front. Round your K to the nearest multiple of 4.

Why 4? You'll need to make button bands for the cardigan that lay one on top of the other. If the center of the garment lies in the middle of the chest, half of the band stitches come from the right front and half come from the left front. In order to have a left front and a right front that are each 1/4 of the total chest circumference, you'll need a chest circumference that is a multiple of 4 stitches (you can't have a right front that is 25.25 stitches wide, even if that's what your calculator tells you the measurement should be).

4. Calculate how many stitches you need to cast on for the neck: K x 57% = neck stitches (N). Now add your button band stitches. I used a 4-stitch garter button band so I added 8 stitches (4 for each band) to my N to get my cast on figure. But N is what you'll use for the next calculations.

5. First Increase Row: ignoring the button bands, (k2, m1) across the entire row. You'll now have 50% more stitches than you had before.

6. Calculate the number of Yoke Stitches (Y) you will need. This is where the Elizabeth Percentage System (EPS) comes in.

• Body Stitches = K - underarm stitches (8% K on each side) = 0.84 K
• Arm Stitches = 30% K - underarm stitches (8% K on each side) = 0.22 K (one arm)

Total # stitches on yoke needle = 0.84 K + 2 x 0.22 K  = 1.28 K

6. Second Increase Row: Ignoring the button bands, (k2, m1) across the entire row.

You may need to adjust this by one stitch since your stitch count on this row (after the increases) should equal 1.28 K. To do a quick check before working the row, multiply your stitch count from the previous row (omitting button bands) by 1.5

If your projected stitch count is one stitch too small, work m1, (k2, m1) across the entire row.

If your projected stitch count is one stitch too large, work (k2, m1), end k2 across the entire row.


Now that we have all of the math taken care of, here's the basic outline of the sweater:

Cast on (N + button bands) stitches. Work neck band in whatever stitch pattern you prefer. Switch to your pattern stitch and continue in pattern until the piece is about an inch and a half long. Work your first increase row. Knit in pattern for another inch and a half or so before woking another increase round. Knit for yet another inch and a half or so and then separate out the sleeve stitches as follows. Work the button band and 0.21 K stitches (the left front minus half the underarm stitches). Place the next 0.22 K stitches on a holder (this is the first sleeve). CO 0.08 K stitches for the underarm and work across the next 0.42 K stitches (this is the back). Put the next 0.22 K stitches on a holder (this is the second sleeve), CO 0.08 K stitches for the second underarm and work across the last 0.21 K stitches and the last button band.

You just put the sleeve stitches on holders to work later and now have K stitches plus the button bands on the needle for the body. Work the body until the desired length and finish with a hem of your choice.

To work the sleeves, pick up and knit 0.08 K stitches from the cast on edge at the underarm and work with the sleeve stitches on the holders until the sleeve is the desired length, finishing with a hem of your choice. Repeat for the second sleeve.

That's it.

Where did my inch and a half yoke lengths come from? You want to space the two increase rows evenly through the yoke. So figure out how long the yoke should be and divide that number by three to get how far you should knit before working an increase row. Right now, Tadpole wears sweaters with about 4.5 - 5 inch long yokes. One third of that is 1.5 inches.

 Happy Knitting!

Where has the time gone?

I wore Whippoorwill out for the first time the other night and it was perfect for the chilly weather. It's not supposed to be cold out yet, is it? Well, maybe if the view from our place looks like this:

That's right - fall color!

It's nothing on what you lucky New England folks will see over the next couple of weeks but it's not bad for living in the middle of the city. Time is really flying - tadpole will be seven months old tomorrow, she has a tooth (!), and I start my new job in two weeks. Fall is really here.

So what about fall knitting? Deep breath . . . about that. I'm a bit behind.

My mantra these last couple weekends has been "I just want to finish something." I've made progress but don't really have much to show for it.

For starters, I finally finished up three more squares for Elizabeth and her Blankets for Birmingham project. I don't know what my problem was, especially since the first three went so quickly. But this time I ran into difficulty after difficulty. I think I went through three or four stitch patterns until I found one I liked in the cotton yarn. And then I had gauge difficulties. After ripping out more starts than I care to think about, I did the unthinkable: I knit a swatch. My squares were done three days later.

Now I just need to give them a quick steam and iron job and pop them in the mail. They're coming, Elizabeth, I promise!

I also whipped up a quick pair of booties for tadpole - something to keep her socks on when we went outside.

I used some leftover Manos Silk Blend from the stash and modified the Christine's Baby Booties pattern to make a garter footbed that was 2x4 inches. This ended up being rather large (not unwearable) but got the job done.

You know you've got a winner when the guy bagging your groceries thinks it's a great knit.

The booties were wonderful to have on chilly days until one disappeared on a walk this weekend. I've got a skein of tosh vintage in the stash that is slated to become booties, mitts, and a hat but I've been putting off casting on for a few days.

Why? I just want to finish something!

I thought it was going to be this little sweater I'm making up for tadpole out of tosh sock.

It's a baby version of Tea Leaves that I'm making up as I go. Or rather, it's inspired by Tea Leaves since I don't have that pattern.

As I said, I thought that this one was almost done - I was working on the garter stitch hem with just the sleeves left to go when I decided to check and see if I had estimated the length correctly.

Nope, too short. So I frogged several rows this morning. And re-wound the yarn. Something seemed to have happened to the ball during the fitting.

I'll finish the body today (I hope!) and the sleeves should be pretty quick, which bodes well for starting replacement booties soon.

Except that I also want to finish this:

This, dear readers, is Catkin. What a fun knit! It's clever and makes you pay attention, both of which I really appreciate after several months of pretty straightforward knitting. I'm one row away from starting the pattern in the second section and I can't wait to get back to this project.

Maybe working on Catkin will be my reward for finishing the purple sweater. And that means it's time for me to go knit before nap time is over!

FO: Simmer Dim

You may have noticed last time that I said I finished two projects last week but only showed you one. The other was Simmer Dim, a fabulous design by Gudrun Johnson. All of the techniques involved are simple but the finished piece is intricate and elegant. I'll definitely be knitting this one again. This version used malabrigo lace yarn (olive colorway) and size 6 and 10 circular needles.

The knitting itself was easy and I sped right through. Blocking was another story.

Well, the blocking itself wasn't particularly difficult.

But there is a pin in every single yarn over on the last row. And there is a yarn over every other stitch on that 500+ stitch row. That's a lot of pins. I think it might be time to find some flexible blocking wires.

I knit this one as written and only have one little note to make. I used a 3-stitch i-cord bind-off on the center triangle. I wanted a sturdy yet elastic edge and the i-cord seemed to do the trick. It's a bit thick so next time I'll try a 2-stitch i-cord and see how that turns out.

Simmer Dim is another very wearable shawl. The curved shape makes for easy draping. And the simple texture goes well with just about everything in my wardrobe. Of course, the green goes pretty well, too.

I love how unassuming Gudrun's designs are. Simple and understated. And perfect every time.

Besides, who can go wrong with malabrigo lace yarn? I'll have to try this pattern in handspun (and maybe a few other things in my stash). I don't think I can stop at just one.

FO: Whipporrwill

Saturday was blocking day here at chez Tinks and Frogs. Because I did the unthinkable: I finished two projects last week. And for a brief bit of time, I didn't have any active projects on the needles. It felt very odd.

First up, Whippoorwill.

This is a lovely, simple pattern by Carina Spencer. The original calls for two contrasting colors but I think it looks great in handspun. I knit the small size on size 6 needles and it's a great scarf/neck warmer piece.

Blocking this one was pretty straightforward.

I almost could have skipped the pins entirely. After giving the piece a bath, I just gently pressed it into shape with my fingers and used T-pins to help maintain the scalloped edging.

Did I mention I really like this pattern in handspun?

It's very wearable, too.

Mr. Tinks and Frogs took a bunch of lovely FO shots for me and the shawl comes off very well. His model . . . well, let's just say that I'm still working on an alternative to a cheesy grin. Perhaps a second cup of tea would help things along. Note to self for next time.

Back to the shawl, I love how the horseshoe shape of the piece curls around the neck. It just lies naturally with no fuss at all.

I think this may be my go-to piece for fall.