My snowmelt shawl

I mentioned last time my liking for knit and crochet a-longs this year, and I think this was the first. The MKAL (mystery knit a-long for those sitting wondering) was organised by Helen Stewart of  curious handmade for a knitted shawl... and other than that it was a mystery. Well, not quite - we were given some information beforehand including weight and amounts of yarn needed, and maybe the end shape of the shawl, though I can't quite remember if that was revealed as we knit along... Oh, and I think we were informed that this was going to be a big shawl.

Yarn was purchased in January when the weather in Suffolk was misty and grey with occasional glimpses of a wintry blue sky. I so wanted to make a shawl inspired by this wintry weather (I think mainly I liked the idea of cosying up inside with candles, knitting and coffee looking out on this beautiful weather) and so I set to looking for appropriate colours. I also wanted affordable yarn, as the mystery part of the a-long made me wonder whether I would love the finished shawl, and who wants to use precious hand-dyed loveliness on a never to be worn shawl? Silly really, as Helen's patterns are beautiful - I have knitted a Spindrift (hmmmm, have I shown that yet?) and so want to knit her Pebble Beach Shawl. Dreamy looking. Anyway, I thought drops merino would be just the thing but sadly not available in the colours I by now had decided this shawl just had to be made in, but drops alpaca did have suitable colours - light and medium grey mix, and turquoise

I even managed to co-ordinate the candle. 

Such a lovely way to spend some cold wintry days, and by spring I had a rather large shawl. The knitting was fun as so varied, the finished shawl whilst not a favourite (choice of yarn maybe, or colours, or maybe I'm not such a lacy person though I do love eyelets) is certainly one of my most worn shawls as it is so cosy.

The Snowmelt has proved tricky to photograph especially when I'm on my own at home, so I'm afraid a few chair and floor photographs are the best today!

A lion for Leo

I did consider giving Leo the gorgeous Jane Foster kit unmade, for his crafty Mammas to sew. But then thought that maybe with a toddler even a crafty Mummy would appreciate a gift that required no assembly. Which meant that I had all the fun! Sorry Lou and Rachael...

 Such a cheery lion... Hope Leo is giving him lots of cuddles.

I seem to have had a cold, followed by another cold for weeks. Yuk. But what with feeling worn out and lots of watching P swim I have had lots of crochet and knitting time. So much time, that I decided I could join in with two alongs, both of which are now in various stages of near completion. Both alongs have been organised by lovely bloggers, one by the lovely Sandra of Cherry Heart blog together with Sam of Betsy Makes and the second by the delightful Jooles of sew sweet violet. Sandra and Sam have a crochet along (still time to join in!) for a particular pattern - the hotel of bees shawl #HOBCAL, while Jooles has a sweet bee happy along for any craft, for anything bee related. This is one of my shawls entered into the bee happy along - the Arrosa shawl from the spring issue of pompom. Gorgeous pattern, dreamy yarn... the colours and softness of Cosmic Strings yarn is so very, very beautiful. I'll show the finished shawl soon