Pattern: Fir Cone Shawl
Yarn: Prime Alpaca Sport Weight from Times Remembered
Needles: US 8

Ravelry Page

At the last Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival I attended (two years ago), I bought way too much yarn. Shocker, I know. One of the millions of skeins I bought was Prime Alpaca Sport Weight from Times Remembered. I had planned to knit a sweater for the Husband with it. Unfortunately, a week later, after I came down from the yarn high, I found myself thinking that an alpaca sweater just wouldn’t work for the Husband. I mean, he wears sweaters but he’s not that hot and I’ve heard that alpaca makes for one hot sweater. So, the yarn went in my ginormous stash and sat there until, last August I decided to knit myself the Fir Cone Shawl from Folk Shawls.

The shawl took almost exactly a year to complete. At first, I put it down for other projects. Then I became board with the center part. Once I finished the center part, I had to figure out the edging and because it frustrated me, I put it down longer. Of course, there was a baby in there. But finally, finally I got it done.

Would you believe this is the first project I’ve completed in 2010. That is a sad state of my knitting right there.

After starting this, I noticed that I have made myself two sweaters that were gray. This shawl was gray. My next clothing item will have COLOR. This I swear. That said, I love this yarn. It’s soft and nice to touch. It knit up well and looks good as lace. The pattern, outside of a few questions I had to figure out, wasn’t too hard. I recommend it.

I haven’t decided if I’ve blocked it well. I think I may have done it a bit too softly; unfortunately, the only place big enough to block it is the basement. We’ve had mouse issues this past summer and I’m not 100% sure they aren’t down there. I would hate to take it off the blocking wires to find a mouse has eaten it. So softer blocking to make sure it’s not eaten. Fair trade, I think.

The only problem with the shawl? I realized after making it that I’m afraid to wear it. I’m not a shawl person to begin with, and I’m not the most aware person. What if I rip it or something? I’m going to have to make myself wear it, just not with the kid around. She will definitely ruin it.

Always, always wear your helmet. Take a look at the Husband’s helmet to see why (there’s blood so if you have issues with blood, don’t look). Now imagine what would have happened had he not been wearing it. Maybe  there would be a little piece of the Husband’s brains waving and smiling on the road as you drove by. Maybe instead of being at work I would be home cleaning up his drool. Maybe he would be calling next year’s ironMan to get his money back because he’ll only be able to walk by then, let alone swim, bike and run. Maybe he’d be fine. I’m very glad he didn’t take that chance to find out.

I cannot tell you how many people I have seen biking without helmets in the last week. I saw 2 by 10:30 yesterday.  Heck, I saw a kid biking down the wrong side of a busy street without a helmet. I almost hit him because he was biking past the street exit and I didn’t see him until I turned the corner.

Of course you won’t be going 35mph so it wouldn’t be as bad or you only bike in your neighborhood. A few weeks ago one of the Husband’s friends got hit by a car on his bike. The car cut across two lanes of traffic to make a right and didn’t see him. Guess what? He was wearing his helmet and other than cuts and bruises was fine. Cars are driven by idiots. You can’t guarantee that they will always see you even if you are only going 5mph.

“Okay,” you say, “well I’m going to bike on a bike path.” Surely that will be safe without a helmet. There are pedestrians, bikers, skaters, and animals who are not always paying attention. Are you sure they won’t cut in front of you? It happened to a friend of mine this weekend. She was wearing a helmet just in case.

If you bike without a helmet then you are an idiot and I hope you do fall, because then you would decrease the surplus population.

Made by Hand has collected almost 50 hats! As soon as I finish the Husband’s sweater, I hope to make a few for the pile. This will most likely be Made by Hand’s last charity drive and we are going out with a bang. Or at least trying to. The goal is to bring in 400 hats for 4 hospitals in our area by November 5. That’s a lot of hats, so please take a moment and make a hat for someone going through chemo. You can knit, crochet, or sew your hat just so long as you make it with your own two hands. We even have an address this year!

As soon as I finish the Husband’s sweater I will be raiding the stash for really soft yarn to make a handful of hats. Will you be doing the same?

Chazari posted a photo:

A rare family portrait on OP’s first train ride.