To knit is divine....

I've spent the last few days figuring out how to keep all the animals somewhat comfortable and staying indoors myself during the middle of the day. The lambs and ewes are spending their days under shade trees (or in front of the big barn fans) and the llamas and alpacas are getting a cooling shower from the garden hose, several times a day. How can it be that we are in the 90's and it's not even officially summer yet? I hate to complain any more because I know there are many of you who are dealing with even higher temperatures. So, how about I talk about something else?

 

I finished my "To Eyre" shawl last week and finally got around to blocking it. I love this shawl so much, I'm ready to cast on another.....right now. I knit this one with Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed and the color is Brindle. I don't think Jo Sharp has stockist in the United States anymore, but it can probably be ordered on-line. Happily for me, I had this in my stash, left over from this sweater that I blogged about way back when. I'm not sure why, but knitting this shawl was so much fun for me. The pattern is easily memorized and the short rows are somehow entertaining (or maybe it's just that I'm easily entertained?). I'm feeling the shawl love these days and I'm not the only one. Ravelry and other blogs are full of enthusiastic shawl knitters at the moment. I guess if a shawl Kate Middleton wears to the grocery becomes a fashion statement, we commoners are free to wear them without being dubbed an "old lady" in a shawl. (of course, in my case, I'm already considered to be an old lady, so what can I say?) I had literally just bound off when I got an updated pattern from "Sunday Knits". It seems that some people had trouble getting the back of the next to stay flat and it was determined that the neck shaping was a little too severe. I literally blocked the heck out of mine and think I have eliminated most of that problem. I will definitely use the newer version of the pattern on my next one. The only thing stopping me from casting on right now is that I haven't been able to choose which yarn to use. This is just the project for someone looking to escape the heat and spend a few days hanging out in the comfort of air conditioning.



And speaking of blocking; I found some play mats (or anti-fatigue mats or whatever you want to call them) at Lowe's and they work great for a blocking surface. They were around $20.