Friday, November 7, 2008

Mindless Morning Knitting

Since I retired from the wonderful world of work, I no longer jump in the shower every morning, throw on clothes, and dash off to an hour-long freeway commute. Instead I mosey out to the kitchen, fix myself a mug of tea, and take it back to bed with me. There I sip, knit on something tremendously simple, and wake up ever so slowly. On gray -- or otherwise slothful -- mornings there may be a second mug.


It's critical that the morning knitting be very, very simple. No cables, no lace, nothing with any sort of chart at all. In a semi-somnolent state, I'm capable of major errors. It's no fun to spend as much time tinking as knitting. And at the end of the day, after all that effort – zero progress.

My current morning project is a shawl. Not a lace shawl, just a shawl. The pattern is called Weaver's Wool Mini Shawl and it's plain garter stitch with regular yarnovers in a four-row sequence to provide the necessary increases to the four sections. I'm not sure how to describe the shape. Definitely not a classic triangle, rectangle, square, or circle. Someone on Ravelry alluded to "Faroese" in speaking of this shawl; perhaps that's the shape.


I'm using 100% alpaca yarn, a delight to the hands. Since there wasn't enough of any one color, it's going to be a colorblock shawl – blue, olive green, and rust. And not only will this project help reduce my own stash, it will also de-stash my neighbor, who hardly needed any persuasion at all to donate two of the three colors.


The shawl will be completed when it looks big enough or when I run out of yarn, whichever comes first. It's that sort of pattern. Restful.

6 comments:

Kath said...

Okay, maybe it's my monitor but the colors in your photos of the shawl and the yarn are very far off! If it's accurate on yours I'll have to show you what it looks like for me.

Delighted Hands said...

You are describing the best kind of morning! Slow and easy and without a lot of talking! The shawl is interesting in its simplicity; the colors described are right on so am eager to see how they play out together.

Marjorie said...

I'm not sure it is really Faroese, but it is very beautiful. I thought a Faroese shawl had a panel up the back.

I have to "commute" by going up a ladder to my loft office, and so I have time to sip some tea (having given up coffee about a year ago) and read the papers. I need this leisurely wakeup to begin my day--but, alas, there is no knitting until the evening.

Sharon said...

I do have to work and have a substantial commute to go with it, so I get up early enough to allow for fiber and caffeine therapy. With no retirement in sight, I just have to make room for the good stuff.

Sheila said...

Are you using Mountain Colors yarn for the shawl? I like the blue. A slow and easy morning is the best.

~ Phyllis ~ said...

Sounds like the perfect morning.
I have that same shawl pattern. I'm anxious to see your completed shawl. I have a feeling that it is going to be lovely.