So I finished the shawl for my sister and it’s even prettier than I thought it would be. My first job with fringe was fairly painless. Not like I was worried about it really. Just wanted to be sure there was enough yarn to make plenty of it. I didn’t measure between the fringe - just eyeballed it.

I’m really trying to not get crazy with the precision and remember that the best part about handmade works are the flaws that show there was a person who was thinking about you while they made this for you.

Pardon me while I get mystic and hokey - but I keep thinking about knot magic and how what you’re thinking about when knitting affects the final work. Which kind of ties in with the whole idea of how I feel about the person who wrote the pattern too.

For those who haven’t been keeping up: this is the Biased Stole pattern from Fiesta Yarns knitted in their two-stranded La Boheme (one small strand of brushed mohair and one of the rayon boucle) in the Adirondack colorway.

I didn’t even think about the fact that I was photographing them on my silly resin adirondack chair until I was resizing the photos. I just wanted a clean place to display the goods and the lighting outside was just beautiful today so I went out there.

I can’t adequately praise the results of this La Boheme yarn - the two textures really compliment each other and really “make” this piece - even with (or maybe because of) such a simple garter stitch. The rayon is shiny and colorful while the mohair adds texture and depth to the color. As is probably the case with most knitted works, the photos really don’t do this justice.

It really does qualify more as a stole than a shawl - being roughtly 70 inches across (slightly longer than between the tips of my fingers with my arms outstretched) and about 18 inches in height. So it covers the shoulders nicely but I wouldn’t wear this alone on a very cold night. Still, it twists up beautifully and makes a great neck or head scarf.

The weather has been your typical crazy New Mexico in the spring kind of weather. A week ago today it was warm enough to be talking about getting the evaporative cooler working. Sunday morning there was snow on the ground. Last night was frigid, today it’s sunny and almost hot. My favorite Cody quote this week: “We get the same weather everyone else does we just get it all in the same week.”

This is the most precipitation this state has had in roughly five years so all kinds of crazy things that have been dormant are blooming. We have a lovely meadow of weeds and giant tumbleweeds in the backyard right now.

There are many more photos in the photo journal. Just wanted to add that none of these photos were enhanced. The light was particularly good today and my dog is just..gorgeous (thanks to a great breeder, good food, supplements, brushing, and a lot of love) so she’s easy to photograph.

I got my order from Yarn Market in (one day earlier than expected!) so I have some loverly Noro Silk Garden in the pinkie-poo 84 color so I can try my hand at the famous Clapotis. And I have a really confusing English pattern for a baby blanket to knit for baby Gavin in a nice gender-neutral oat-stone shade. And I’ve started a fringy scarf for my mom for mother’s day in some fiesta rayon boucle in the Carribbean shade. I plan to make a shoulder scarf in the rayon boucle with the Stargazer color for Cody’s mom. And I finally started working on the fulled lopi tote in red and beige.

I like having a variety to work on what can I say?