Given a Piece of Spring

Another busy week... It's frustrating to only find the energy to write a blog post on the weekends, but I'm hoping that I can get into my stride again and find inspiration more often during the week!

Last night, after walking the Rascal, I checked my Twitter feed and found this:

TheSexyKnitter Sarah Wilson:

@susanmowska @marudesigns @lansingerland @limapopshoppe @adrienescouch @knitterlydesign You won a Spring Pattern Collection from Knitcircus!

The first thing I thought was: Woohoo! That's the first time I've ever won anything from a net giveaway!

The second thing in my head was: Woohoo! I've got something to blog about!

I follow Sarah Wilson aka TheSexyKnitter on her blog, as well as on Twitter. I've done so ever since I admired her Stargazer pattern (which I plan to knit sometime this spring, I think). And, as she says on her blog, her stuff is not about knitted bikinis and which knitter is hotter, but about making flattering, fun things and turning the "granny" perception of knitting on its head.

Anyway, she's making videos for Knitcircus.com, a new online knitting magazine, and from the first time I heard mention of it, it looks like it's going to be a good one - nice layout, and beautiful patterns. When I heard Sarah was giving away subscriptions and patterns from it, I jumped in and entered any way I can. I know the odds of winning these things are low, but I figure, you only have to do small things to get a chance. Who wouldn't want a chance at anything?

So, when I got my free patterns in my email last night, it was like someone sent me a bouquet of fresh spring flowers... a whiff of something fresh and new. Ahh... lacy shawls, warm winds, being outside... it was nice to daydream about them while the frozen rain fell outside my window. Not long now...

Being given these patterns reminds me of a story I read often as a little girl about some toys who lived in the nursery of a little boy who had a flashlight (It was called a torch in the story. It was book from England.) The toys decide to have a fancy dress ball one night, and they borrow the flashlight so that they can have some light to dance in. The flashlight batteries give out, and the toys are distraught. Luckily, there is a fairy at the ball who goes outside, cuts a piece of the moonlight, and pours it into the flashlight. After that, the boy has a flashlight that never, ever dies out.

I feel like a fairy has given me a piece of spring that could last forever. Or, at least to see me through until the snow melts.

In the meantime, I've been working away on my cabled scarf. I've only been working on it at home, because the cables are so complicated that I can't really carry on a conversation while working on it. This was confirmed last night when I took it with me to meet friends for coffee and knitting. After I got home, I realized I'd screwed up the last four rows... more ripping for me! If you ever want to be humbled, knit something with five sets of cables, and then rip it all out. (I'd recommend not yearning for the humble feeling, but if you do...) The yarn is incredibly soft, and while it still sheds enough to cover my shirt in little fuzzy hairs after one sitting, I think that it will be a favourite of mine, once I get it washed and blocked.

I've also become increasingly more obsessed with shawls, and more specifically, shawlettes. I never really thought I'd want to knit a shawl (they always seemed so grandmotherly to me). In fact, I think I might have sworn I would never do it, but I'm eating those words now. With the gorgeous array of colourful yarns out there, the shawlette seems like the perfect way to show them off. At coffee last night, one of my friends remarked how she much prefers to knit things to wear, and I am much the same. Why not show it off? Why not drape it around your neck and head and prance around like a nymph? (I'm not much of a nymph... maybe more like a goblin, but dance I do.) This week, I found great joy in searching for new patterns to try out, like wandering around a flower garden with a vase to fill.

Here are a couple that I really want to make:

Damask by Kitman Figueora (pattern for sale at the Kitman's Etsy shop):

Craftilyhip's Demiluna Shawl (free download on Ravelry):

There are lots more, and goodness knows I like to buy the yarn that works for these kinds of projects, mostly sock yarn. That reminds me: I think I swore I'd never knit socks either, but you never know, I guess.

So, now that I have all these patterns to look through and daydream about, I suppose I ought to go and finish off my scarf so that I can dive into some springtime knitting. Maybe I'm tempting fate; after all, the groundhog apparently has told us there's lots more winter to come. But heck, I've been given a piece of spring. That rodent ain't gonna take it away from me!