Lost in knitting – Lace shawl Whiteout

The shawl designs of Melanie Berg aka Mairlynd caught my eye sometime at the beginning of the year. I hadn’t knitted for a while. Sewing just seemed to be more my needle craft: quicker, easier to adjust, more experience. Knitted socks were my entry into knitting again and I started to appreciate the advantages of this craft again, the flexibility, the relaxing pleasure to knit a few rows each evening.

The patterns and yarns I discovered in this knitting community were thrilling. And so I attempted my first lace shawl, Melanie Berg’s “The Miller’s Daughter” – still not photographed. The lace pattern was challenging in the beginning, but I found my way into reading and understanding knitting charts. After finishing this project I was hooked. And I started this new shawl project, which definitely was one step ahead. “Whiteout” by Melanie Berg, again, which is of course with the colours I chose not a very fitting name. But I really liked the colour combo of these two Portland Lace colours (The Yarn Collective), the shades that make them vibrant and natural at the same time. The Merino yarn lies nice in your hand when knitting and is very comfortable to wear: light and soft, but still warming.

And so I started with garter stitches, stich by stich, row by row, the shawl slightly but steady growing. Some kind of meditation, a very welcome way to calm me down.
And then the lace pattern that demanded full concentration followed. This was the point were I bought stitch markers – what a great investment! Progress was slowly, but each row was a success. Brain and hands had to work together, focused. Other thoughts didn’t have room. Some kind of mental training that gave me in this way a much needed break from all those other tasks that were circling in my mind. Start knitting and you don’t need to do yoga 😉

And finally it was time to bind off. What a great feeling to hold the finished shawl in my hands, proudly take pictures of it and eventually give it away as birthday present to my friend where I know it is in good hands.

Knitting yoga will be continued!