Déjà Vu

Now, I know that I just showed you some handspun and a blue shawl in my last post, but I guess sometimes that's all there is to show.

I started this shawl (Lacewing, by Anne Hanson) over a year ago for our Joan as a thank you for putting up with me when I went to visit last summer.  I intended it to be finished much earlier than this summer, but once school began again last fall all hell broke loose.  I developed tendinitis in both hands because of all the clarinet playing I was doing and could no longer knit in my (minimal) free time.  Everything related to knitting got put on the back burner for about nine months, but I would pick up this shawl every once in a while when I wasn't playing as intensely.  This meant that I only worked on it during Thanksgiving break, Winter break, and Spring break, which gave me just enough time to finish it up as I reached the one year mark.

I used a bit more than 1.5 skeins of Fleece Artist Suri Blue (discontinued).  The pattern itself was very thorough, but went on for pages and pages and at any given time you had to be working from charts on at least three separate pages.  It was difficult to keep track of everything that was going on, but I don't see how the pattern could have been written more concisely and I believe that if you want to end up with something like this shawl, there's no way to avoid putting in the work.

And really, once you reach that finish line and pick up the blocked shawl from the floor for the first time, all that work is worth it.

The handspun I have to show you didn't take nearly as long.  I think it must have taken two weeks tops, but I didn't really pay attention to how long it took.

This was 4oz. of Into the Whirled merino top that I split in half and spun into a two-ply yarn.  The colorway was "Brown."  Totally right down my alley.  I ended up with about 370 yards.

(That last photo is bad because I took it on my phone in my practice room, but y'all have seen yarn before, right?)

Alright, it's time for me to head home now, but hopefully I'll be back soon to show you the sweater I've been working on, some mittens that I haven't, and my plans for participating (or not) in the Tour de Fleece.  Catch ya later!