One at the finish line, one in the starting blocks

This post is unintentionally about two shawls. First up, the “subway” shawl crossed the finish line this week – as I suspected, a few more commutes (plus one standard wait at a doctor’s office – just a checkup!) and the shawl went from my needles to the soaking sink to the blocking boards. This is the Textured Shawl Recipe from Ravelry, and I used just one skein of the Sanguine Gryphon Traveller yarn on size 6 needles. It is a petite shawl, but it’s just right for the coming spring. And the yarn is great – I can’t wait to work with it again (did I mention I have a second skein of this in the stash? mais, bien sûr!) It’s easier to see the alternating textures of stockinette, slip stitch, and garter stitches from the blocking picture below, but the ambient light has not cooperated at all with my picture-taking efforts this week. What a gloomy week in NYC!

To counteract the rain/snow/hail/lightning/clouds outside, I’ve got a vibrant skein of madelinetosh pashmina yarn in her “Forestry” colorway wound and ready to swatch. This colorway seems nearly impossible to photograph accurately, but it’s a gorgeous deep blue/green.

I’m thinking that a triangular shawl, maybe with just a smidge of lace, will do the trick for this gorgeous yarn. It’s a mostly solid colorway that could stand up to a more complex stitch pattern, but I’d like to focus more on the drape of this cashmere/merino/silk yarn, and I think that a simpler fabric that isn’t too visually busy will work best here. My preference is usually for strong, clean lines anyway, so I’m in the midst of poring over stitch dictionaries and trying to remember to keep it simple, stupid. Good advice in general, that.

More snow in NYC?? Happy Thursday!