Family and work has severely cut into my knitting time last week. I made little progress apart from finishing a hat and a cardigan whic have been in the works for the past few weeks anyway.

I decided to tackle my Ravelry queue however and cast on a shawl using this lovely Tuscan Rose over Lemon FSM. It’s an Ishbel, one of the most popular patterns around so I wondered why have I not knitted one. Ruth was finishing her second Ishbel the last time I saw her and she was using lace weight too!

I love it so far. Simple, easy to follow, standard triangular shawl construction. No sweat. I plan to use up every last drop of this yarn so I will do the large size, i.e. 221 stitches before the lace border. I’m using 4mm needles so I am getting a really nice firm yet drapey fabric.

The other WIP today has been in this state for the past 6 months. But not for long! I only have half a sleeve left on my Austin Hoodie – yay! It’s been a struggle and I think partly to blame is the set-in sleeves. I did not like the way the sleeve cap shaping looked. Hopefully it will even out after blocking but it seriously put my mojo on a fight-or-flight mode.  Pardon the blurry indoor, flourescent light photo.

After showing the half-done hoodie to the Amiras last weekend, Debbie suggested that I do not have to complete the hoodie. I can just do a garter stitch border and be done with it. End up with a marine collar instead. I liked the idea since the likelihood of me using the hoodie in Dubai is close to nil. So this is what the hoodie ended up in. I will straighten it out during blocking – I can’t wait! I hope to have this blocked and dried and ready to be shown off to the Amiras in Abu Dhabi on Friday.