The Olive Twist Shawl in gray

I have been talking a lot about my love for the Olive Twist Shawl by my lovely friend Sue Perez, in the Summer 2014 addition of Love of Crochet magazine.  Remember I made the whole shawl incorrectly at first because I am a bit daft and did not read the instructions correctly.  Every odd row there is an  increase in the middle of the shawl.  Now mind you the directions are right there, plain and simple, but apparently my mind was not there.  It was well worth frogging and starting over.  This is one of the most beautiful shawls I have ever made, and believe me I have made a few.  Remember my Elise Shawl obsession.  I made five of them for friends and I loved every stitch, but this shawl, OH MY!!!!!!  Here take a peek for yourself.

Really I can not say enough about this brilliant pattern by Sue.  I think this is by far one of the loveliest things I have ever made.  And even though I am trying to be stern with myself about completing a pink sweater or two, I just want to grab my hook and some yarn and start this pattern again.  My mind keeps wandering to how it might look in another yarn, maybe a slightly variegated yarn, nothing with too much color change.  Okay Meredith, snap out of it and get one of those Berroco sweaters finished!

I used three hanks of Canyon Mountain Top yarn by Classic Elite Yarns (from stash, thank you very much).  It is made from 85% pima cotton and 15% alpaca, and it is GORGEOUS to work with.  Smooth and soft, the yarn just flows over your hook and hands.  This is all I have left of my 450 yards, this teeny, tiny amount.  I actually did an extra hdc border along the top of the shawl to use up as much of this lovely yarn as I could, and I made the shawl a wee bit bigger.  You hardly notice the difference and it used up almost every inch of yarn.  I also used a size I crochet hook to complete the project.  It blocked beautifully with a steam iron.  This one is for me to add to my incredibly increasing shawl collection.  You see I love to make shawls but rarely wear them.  What is up with that?  This beauty is a keeper.  I intend to break the lack of shawl wearing cycle, and wrap it around my neck just as soon as I can wrestle it off Caroline the Dress Form, she is quite enchanted with it.

I hope you run as fast as you can to the nearest store to buy a copy of this magazine so you too can get busy on this shawl.  Sue of Mr Micawber's Recipe for Happiness also has another pattern in that very same magazine, the Honeydew Scarf.  Can you even imagine being that talented?  I fully admit I am not a designer, a great design follower maybe, but a designer, no.  Well done Sue, you are amazing.  Okay, I will stop gushing now.

 

This lovely lady and I almost ran into each other on my walk early Sunday morning.  I rounded the corner and almost walked smack dab into her.  She was as startled to see me as I as to see her.  Maybe she was so engrossed in eating leaves and grass she did not hear my footsteps.  She looked at me, and I slowly backed away from her so she would not get spooked.  I took out my phone and took this picture of her.  Then I looked down and made a wide circle around her so she did not feel threatened. She was gone upon my return, isn't she just gorgeous?  The deer we have in Florida are smaller than what you would normally think of, but they still seem to eat a ton, especially all of my flowers.  Oh well, I am just glad that in this very busy area I live in, I get to see this.  Thank you lovely deer.

Hope you are having a great day.