For one thing, I got the flu. It was only a mild dose - in so much that I only spent four days laid up - but it sure didn't feel mild at the time! It meant I had to put my very fine lace weight shawl on the back burner as I just couldn't cope with trying to see the yarn and work out the non-intuitive pattern. Even the comparatively simple fingering weight shawl was so much effort I had to have a little doze after every row! I'm a little of coming down with bug after bug this winter though. I'm seriously craving the summer!
Thankfully, I was well enough to go on the weekend break I had planned last weekend. This was the 30th birthday celebration of an old friend of mine who came out to stay in a windmill not too far from me, despite her and her friends coming 100+ miles to get there! It was a very nice weekend - the windmill had been converted into a huge windmill that slept 15 and was absolutely stunning, and the people I met were absolutely lovely. It was fantastic seeing my friend again too - I haven't seen her for a few years, but we can just catch straight back up again when we see each other and I'm glad things are mostly going well for her. I think most of the other guests were quite bemused and interested to see me knitting away - I started shawl number 3 while I was there!
Since I got back, as well as all the normal hobbies I get up to, I finished the first two of my eleven shawls! The first one I finished is called 22 Leaves Shawlette and I made it using Hand Maiden Casbah which is amazingly lovely both to knit with and to wear. It's in the Cedar colour way and I cannot rave enough about this colour! Here's a picture:
Possibly the most exciting thing about this shawl is that when I posted it on the 11 Shawls in 2011 forum on Ravelry, more than 100 people have clicked on the 'love' button. I may have made an involuntary squeeing noise when I saw that it had broken 100.
The next one I finished today. It was actually the first one I cast on, but due to the aforementioned flu it ended up being put to one side for a week or two. It's a Wild West Lace Shawl (by Evelyn Clark!) in the insanely delicate Grignasco MerinoSilk. This was leftover from the Muir stole I made (that it off the needles, but as yet to have ends woven in or be blocked. Opps), and even after making this shawl I still have about 200 yards left! I was worried when I cast off as it seemed tiny, but it grew loads when I blocked it. Also, because the yarn was so fine, I only needed to leave it pinned out for an hour before I could go and take pictures. Which is why I can show this now and not some time next week due to light issues:
So, all in all January has been very productive and busy - two shawls and a blanket started and finished. I'm going to attempt to have a 'Perfect February' which is a Facebook initiative in which the participants sign up to aim to be the best they can be for the month. We'll see how it goes anyhow.
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