Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!

So, my good resolution of sticking with one WIP only lasted so long... To my defense, I absolutely hate knitting scarves, and who wants to work with mohair when it's 30°C outside? :) I'm afraid this scarf is going to hibernate a couple more years... In the meantime, I have started on a new design project I've been meaning to tackle for a while. My first traditional triangle shawl!

I'm working with the three madelinetosh colorways I talked about in the previous post, and I discovered something really interesting while looking for a name for the shawl. I really felt very strongly about using those three colors together, and when I researched the symbolism for red, blue and yellow I found this page about the Korean Sam Taegeuk and its meaning: 

The Korean-style Sam-Taegeuk

[three-part Grand Ultimate] Symbol,

used in Korean Shamanism, Neo-Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism

Blue = Heaven    Red = Earth    Yellow = Humanity

Heaven influences Earth, which influences Humanity, which influences Heaven...

I thought it was fascinating, since those last few months I've been in this quest to understand how I could live connected to both Heaven and Earth and be a meeting point for the two energies. I've always been very sensitive to color and a great believer in color's power over our moods and energy, as well as our desire for different colors depending on how we're feeling, but this was an especially specific example! 

The shawl is slow going since I'm not used to all this math, and I'm also knitting it first in a $4 acrylic yarn to make sure I like the result. The madelinetosh gets damaged by repeated frogging :) But so far I'm happy! :) 

Also, Spring (or should I say Summer?) is here, yay! 

A historic day!

As of today, I am down to just ONE WIP!!!! This hasn't happened since my first project 4 years ago, and I am using all my willpower to resist casting on something else right this minute. I have to think about what I want to start, considering that this next month is going to be insane, with my one woman show coming up + The Tempest as well, and moving and submitting my visa... 

Pattern: Bridgewater by Jared Flood

Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Merino Lace (disc.) in Pheasant and Vengeance

I'm super happy with my last FO above, a year and half in the making (that border was looooong!), and now I am tempted to start a new design I have in mind, using three wonderful colors of madelinetosh that I've been wanting to use together ever since I got them, but I'm afraid I won't really have the availability to take my time with it in the next few months... 

Look at those, aren't they scrumptious???

So I think for now I'll just be toiling away on my scarf, that has also been in my WIP pile for a couple of years :) ! I do have a few orders from friends I could get started on (among which a pirate baby jumper and some My little pony socks), but I would need to buy the yarn and I don't want to do that until I move ! :) I am trying desperately to knit up my stash before I have to send half of it back to France in July.... 

Pattern: Wexford by Leila Raabe

Yarn: Filatura di Crosa superior

Why do I always forget how much I dislike knitting scraves? Thank God this picture is from two years ago and I'm a little more advanced than that! Alright, so back to it I go... :) 

I'm on a roll !

I have decided to tackle all of my WIPs before I cast on anything else (not counting my own designs, of course!). This Bridgewater shawl has been on my needles since May 2013 now, and this is becoming ridiculous. I'm at that point in this kind of projects where I cannot for the life of me see the end...especially when the end comes after joining an edging around 770sts of shawl ! I'm not even 1/4 of the way around. The only thing that keeps me going is the yarn, a Hedgehog Fibre lace in two incredible colorways (Vengeance and Pheasant), as usual. The picture doesn't do them justice, especially Vengeance.

I used to never have more than two projects going on at a time, but that flew right out the window when I started knitting small accessories. This year, I've always had at least four simultaneously on the needles, which resulted in some projects being abandoned way longer than they should have been, namely this one and a cashmere scarf dating back to 2012! I'm down to those two plus the new pattern I've been working on, colorwork fingerless mitts...

I am done with my Skyline shawl (and so happy with it!) but I'll wait for the Yarn Company to release the pattern to write one big post about it. Speaking of the YC, one of the perks (or the dangers!) of working there is that I usually get access to The Verdant Gryphon (amazing!) monthly crib before everyone else... This month I scored a skein of Firefly Hunt, and thank God I did, since we sold out the whole lot in 2 days...

On the whole "finishing my WIPs" kick, I also finally cast off the Papyrus Cowl I was knitting for the YC. I love that pattern, it is modern and entertaining. Also happy with the result, though I don't get to keep it for myself  :( But I love those colors, and I will definitely use that decorative stitch again, even though it's a bit tedious to work.

That's it for now, hopefully by the time I write next post Skyline will be up and running at the YC and I can post some pictures ! Happy knitting !