Maude

So we are home on the island again after a hot and sweaty week in Philadelphia. I had a lovely time moving into our new house after we spent 10 hours cleaning up after the disgusting art school boys who lived there before us. But, I got to see Wendy, Christina and the gang at knitting circle and that made up for the weekend of moving hell in 110 degree heat. It is supposed to feel like 113 tonight on the Eastern Shore--and I thought that it was supposed to be cooler in the country! My house feels like a sauna and Max and I are holed up in my studio (the only room with air conditioning because of course it's more important to keep the wool and textiles at a constant temperature than to keep me at one) with a very hot dog watching Simpsons on the fold out sofa bed mattress which we have dragged in onto the floor. Pathetic. I'm not leaving this room until Fall.
Alas, it is time to add another pattern. I am trying to add a new one each week, but I am sure that I'm bound to loose a few days here and there. I started this in September of last year right after our lovely beastie dog, Quentin, had died of gastric lymphoma. I needed a pattern that was pure comfort and happy. I also needed to use my brain and stop dwelling on the sad. I love this pattern. It has a homey feeling. It is my all time favorite shawl, and I have a LOT of shawls! The pattern is a good mix of mindless knitting and concentration at the end of the row. It is knit from side to side and the edging is knit at the same time. The pattern is simple and the shape is suprising. There is not any shaping except for increasing on one side to the point of the triangle and then decreasing again to the other side, but when laid out it does a Farosese style bat-wing or seagull in flight kinda thing. Totally not on purpose! I love when that happens. It is really really great and not just 'cause I made it but 'cause it just is.