roses are red

I finished this shawl before the end of June but abandoned it in need of photographic attention whilst I holidayed back in the UK, taking another project to entertain me over the long hours as we crossed the ocean. So sure was I that I'd have that finished by the time we landed, that I packed yarn for a second shawl to entertain me throughout the break and the subsequent journey back home.

Wrooooooong!

The knitting mojo has been lost again, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean I believe and this post is less show and tell in nature, more a ticking off because I need to have shawl #4 in my arsenal for when school begins again next month.

I have to say though, the little one-skein beauty, Roses are Red, has to be one of my favourites so far. I'm so in love with it that my heart strings are sure to be tugged somewhat as I reach for the pretty paper, wrap it oh-so carefully and send it on it's way. But it is true to say it didn't start out as a labour of love. I just couldn't get to grips with the pattern at all. To my increasing frustration, it didn't seem to be working and I could not understand why. On reading through Ravelry's notes, it appeared nobody else was having the same issues as mine, there were no forum threads devoted to this annoying error that clearly belonged in the pattern notes. But after literally over ten failed attempts, and on the verge of surrender, the penny miraculously dropped that it was me who was at fault. Quelle horreur! It would appear that after 42 projects behind me I had never, ever had to knit yarn-overs between knit and purl stitches. And boy did I not work that out for myself ...

Of course it isn't hard to see, looking through my previous knitted FOs, that Madelinetosh Merino Light is pretty much my favourite yarn for shawls. What's more, I am cer-azy about this colour. Tart is the most beautiful shade of red ever. It is the intensity of plump late-summer berries, ripe and falling off the stalk without any hint of pressure and bursting with luscious flavour. So why am I passing it on? Because I have one more in my stash ... that's why!!

Details of my Roses are Red are here on my Ravelry page.