Sunlight or Lack Thereof

Days get short this time of year here in the Pacific Northwest. When it is rainy like it has been for the past few days, one needs the lights on in the house well before 4:30 pm and the sun won't rise again until after 7:30 am. When I was working it didn't seem to matter that daylight was in such short supply, but now without a routine it seems more noticeable. Days will continue to grow shorter until December 21, so I need to adjust and what better to do than knit, so I have chosen knitting (I know, what a surprise) under a wonderful task light.

The Jeweled cowl is complete including the blocking. It did give me an opportunity to cast it off twice; my first attempt pulled the selvage edge in too tightly. So that edge was taken apart and a second one worked to my satisfaction.t

As a cowl, doubled.

As a scarf.

It turned out to be the perfect length. As you can see it can comfortably be doubled to make it a cowl; however, fully unfolded it can be used as a scarf making it versatile. And of course, the beads can be seen sparkling through on the full version. I like it a lot.

Having completed the cowl, I went back for a third Ashton shawl this time in charcoal. The yarn is Fantastic Knitting Zephyr lace weight made of 50% merino and 50% tussah silk. Its feel makes my hands happy as they work with it. It also holds a stitch well making errors easy to correct. Finally, this yarn is so light, 2 ounces or 57 grams yields 630 yards (576 meters), which will allow this charcoal Ashton to be the same size as the first one.

I am happy to be back into shawl knitting with this wonderful yarn and it is a colour light enough to be knit even with a lack of sunlight.

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