Start of the Holiday Weekend...

My Friday was today. With the cat show NEXT weekend, I will spend the entire 4 days off sewing and I'm not sorry about that. But I will be very, very busy!

Want to see some pretties?
Two Knitnanas - one from brand new fabric (the red one) and one from "vintage as can be, out of print, no hope of ever seeing it again" fabric (the white one).
And two more Knitnanas, both of these fabrics out of print, only limited amounts left and I'll not hold my breath that I can ever see them again, either! (sigh) All the best prints disappear just a little too fast for my tastes!

And then, there's this:
For almost a year, I've coveted the Valkyrie colorway in the Raven series...and I kept looking for a shawl I wanted to make in fingering weight yarn.

What I love about Valkyrie, besides the obvious colors (and that it's STR, of course) is the text that accompanies the description of the colorway - Midwife of change. She will walk with you up to that door and be your witness as you walk through it.

Midlife has been an empowering time for me. I started a business, learned ever more about love, friendship, and family, but especially have learned about myself in the process...the colors of Valkyrie - saturated black, brown/rust, and plum - compliment my color preferences as well as my current lifestage. I wanted a shawl that would be affirming of that, enveloping, warm, and somewhat lacy. I didn't want one that would make me crazy to knit it...a satisfying knit, please? Some months ago, I knit and blocked a swatch of STR and discovered that indeed its lace would block (as did Judy, but her blog entry about it was so good, I never bothered to post about it!). So my goal was to find a shawl pattern that would reflect my Crone status, and be comforting as well as striking.

Abigail, who has been more likely to inspire me to discloths and socks than shawls, was knitting Seraphim (the Ravelry link; click Mim's site if you're not on Ravelry!). After very little thought, acting completely on my gut reaction that it would be perfect, I ordered it.

(and then ordered the yarn)

It arrived today. The colors in the yarn are identical to my computer monitor's representation of the colors. I'm delighted. I emailed BMFA to let them know.

So while some of you may think it odd that a 52-year old woman is considering the creation of a shawl to celebrate her Cronehood, that is exactly what I'm doing. I envision that this shawl pattern and yarn are the perfect combination, it's quite heavy with symbolism to me.

She won't be started for a bit...there are other WIPs to complete, and a show or two on the agenda, but my Valkyrie Seraphim is a landmark piece on my queue...She'll be my fall-thru-winter project - perfect for a woman recognizing that she's entering her personal autumnal stage.
Blessed Be.