Shawls Against the Universe

Can you believe that it is supposed to be spring next week?  I certainly cannot.  It was almost 80 degrees the other day and then last night it was well below freezing.  Not as bad as other areas are having, but not our norm.  Normally I would say that I love the cold and don't really care for warm weather.  Because I am a knitter, right?  But this winter has been so harsh I am dying for some warmth so I can break out my dresses without worrying if my tights will clash with my sweater.

Luckily I finished some shawls recently to help me weather the latest chill.  Both from some pretty awesome ebooks.

First up we have Wayfarer from Doomsday Knits.  Jen Lucas does an excellent job of creating a very approachable yet unique pattern.  It would just help if I read the directions properly.  I did not realize until I had started the second half that I had completely misread the increase directions, making a much shallower shawl than intended.

It says a lot that I actually took the time to rip and reknit.  Normally when I have this magnitude of mishap I shove the offending work into a bag never to be heard from again.  But I persevered because I was just dying to have the finished object.  I bought the suede cord from JoAnn's and am very pleased with the result. Plus I used an unnamed stash yarn that I acquired in a swap.  Bonus!

The second shawl was knit for the Ravellenic Games which I finished for the first time ever.  It probably helps that this year we got all the channels so I was able to watch everything.  A) Because I wanted to but also B) because it was in Russia and I felt obligated.  Most people I interact with on a regular basis know that I studied something to do with Russia in grad school and try to keep up with current affairs, and so asked me all sorts of questions during the games.  Fortunately I studied more recent history and was able to convey some context when grilled about the opening ceremonies.  But back to the shawl.

I won a giveaway over at The Sexy Knitter last year (probably using up all of my giveaway karma for all eternity) and was gifted Lee Meredith's Short Stripes Trio.  I have already knit Barry and this time I knit Robin.  The green is Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Sock that I purchased from my LYS and the purple is a much loved skein of Femme Fatale Fibers that I bought in a final destash from the dyer.  Liz no longer dyes yarn and I was kicking myself for never purchasing any when she put this extra-large skein of Dumbledore's Cloak up for sale. 

I knit through the final short stripe section and then one more repeat before realizing that it was long enough and the Olympics were almost over and it really was hard to knit on a plane anyway.  The fact that it was garter made the project perfect for all the traveling I did last month and the colors were fun to use with some My Little Pony stitch markers.

I have enough leftover that I could knit a pair of colorwork mittens, but I don't know if I will anytime soon because I don't want to tempt the weather into an early spring blizzard.  I live in North Carolina for goodness' sake.  Now that would be horrid.