So I am not the only yarnhead where I work. I have two colleagues who are also demon crocheters and we are trying to get into the habit of meeting up at lunchtime to crochet together and share our makes. One of them has been pattern testing the first shawl to go into shawl club (no major issues, I am pleased to report, so that is a relief!) and the other one is going to pattern test shawls for me but is in the middle of a textured cowl using yak yarn at the moment and cannot put it down. Anyway, lunchtime is now a bit of an oasis in what can be some very long days, and a good excuse to turn away from the computer screen and have a non-work related conversation. We have made a pact to go to Fibre East this year and already getting giddy at the prospect as last year we had perfect weather on the day we went and we are hoping for a repeat.
I love these women. One of them is responsible for teaching me to crochet in the first place, so she has a lot to answer for. The other is great fun as we send each other pictures of our latest hand-dyed purchases when we get home, and we egg each other on to make completely unjustifiable yarn purchases when we are stressed. We all need a friend like that, right?
Anyway, I am busy experimenting with my pattern for Shawl #4, which I have a concept for and its working from a technical point of view but I am not sure whether I love it yet. The other shawls so far have been more open / lacy and this one is more of a solid looking shawlette, and I am worried that people will have reservations about it. The colours pictured here are not the ones that I will eventually be using for the finished shawl, I just needed to grab a couple of skeins from my stash to play with and these seemed to fit the bill. They are pretty though – the one on the right is a King Becky pixel yarn (colourway – Soma) and it is lovely to work with. I will probably keep this for me regardless of whether the finished product ends up in shawl club but we will see. I will have a think about whether I can make it a bit more open without messing up the main concept too much. I have an idea, but I just need to play with it a bit more.
The Knackered Psycho 