I can’t be the only one who feels far more inspired to make changes in my life in the spring than in dreary January! The return of the sun coupled with Nature’s effusion of energy always fill my mind with grand ideas, wild plans, and fresh hopes. Also I have a smartphone now! I have been loving the convenience of always having a camera in my pocket, not to mention the ease of being able to upload photos straight to the internet. And I have been knitting some seriously awesome stuff, if I do say so myself! For example, I participated in the recent Follow Your Arrow mystery KAL and hoo boy do I love my FO!
It’s still a bit cool here but many afternoons have been warm enough for shirtsleeves and a magnificent shawl! And this one is so dramatic, it’s equally cool with jeans and a tshirt or a fancy dress. I modified the edging a little to add the slowly widening stripes…because I was running out of yarn! I had way more than the required yardage to start, so I worked an extra repeat of the lace, which meant making adjustments to the knitted on edging which meant by the end I was cutting every spare inch off my colour changes to try and finish the last pink row (thinking of following in my footsteps? More details on my mods on my project page).
Follow Your Arrow was also my first MKAL. It was a large one, and one with a vibrant community. I know some people felt disappointed with the pattern, but I really think one has to be prepared for the unknown when embarking on a mystery KAL. Mystery, dudes. It’s right there in the title. I loved the experience – I got exactly what I was looking for: a shawl construction that I might never have chosen, but that I now get to experiment with, not just on the needles but in my wardrobe. The unique “kite” start surpassed my expectations and I am totally excited to knit another with a few different clue choices down the road (probably in a single colour, possibly in handspun)! All in all, I don’t know that I’m going to do a lot of MKALs, and for example you couldn’t pay me to do a sweater MKAL, but I had so much fun with this one I hereby resolve to do more in the future…as well as more blog posts!
Undermost Salamander Knits 