I got home a bit late yesterday, but I was definitely looking forward to it as I knew my family wouldn’t be home at that time. I needed 2 more rows to complete the lace section I was working on in Find Your Fade, and I really wanted to get that section done prior to grabbing a photo. Unfortunately, I also fell asleep on the couch in the sun. Sometimes that’s just irresistible. After a quick nap, and thanks to the fact that it’s light later now, I grabbed a photo.

I am so pleased with this so far! I worked my way into the third color last night. Surprisingly, I really don’t love knitting the lace sections. I think it’s because they aren’t charted, and I really love to be able to “see” my lace and how everything should line up. But, thankfully, after two sections I am pretty sure I can see if I am going wrong quite a bit earlier than I could in the first section.

Other thoughts of note. I began this one with the size needles called for in the pattern. I hate how it looked, my stitches were loose and sloppy, the garter stitch looking so messy. I went down one needle size and got the above gauge, which is entirely appropriate, tidy, and pleasant. It’s so amazing to me that such a tiny difference in needle sizes could make such a dramatic difference in end product.

How did I end up with this yarn? Well, for the first time ever, a facebook ad got to me. Somehow it popped up in my feed, I fell head over heels for the color combo, researched the company Expression Fiber Arts, and found the color combo on their site. It was a pre order, it had a date listed about a month in the future as to when my yarn would be ready. It was indeed ready and shipped on the very date listed. The yarn is merino and tencel. It’s super shiny, soft, and slippery. Mr. Ink says it almost looks metallic, but that’s just the high shine of tencel. I can just tell already that this is a shawl I am going to get a ton of use out of.

My additional story of the day is about work. My boss has rheumatoid arthritis. Her shoulders often hurt. I can always tell when she’s having quite a bit of pain, though she always hides it so well. Yesterday it was cold in the office. She was out talking to us, with her suit jacket thrown over her front, holding it up to her neck with her hands. She mentioned she was cold, and I gave her a bit of a funny look, she immediately knew I knew, and she said “I am in so much pain I can’t even stand to wear my jacket, it hurts too much.” So, I pulled my insanely HUGE handspun shawl I keep at work off my chair and handed it to her. She immediately looked relieved, put it over her shoulders, and went and sat at her desk. She quickly looked so much more relaxed. The power of a hand knit, I am telling you! It’s a big deal. I told her to borrow it any time, as it just sits over the back of my chair and I rarely use it. But, now that I am thinking it through, I may eventually just make her one of her own. We’ve worked together for a good 10 years now, and have always been friends. Furthermore, her mother is a knitter and she wears her mother’s  handknits frequently, she’s certainly knit worthy.

The shawl in question:

In any case, it felt great to be able to provide someone with a little bit of comfort during her long day. I guess that, as a knitter, is something I hope for when I give handknits away.