Alamardi Shawl released!

I am not good at knitting seasonally-appropriate things. Not good at all. Maybe it's just my stubborn streak telling the world, "you can't tell me what to knit or when to knit it!" and flipping everyone the bird before starting a pair of wool mittens in Atlanta in June. This may have actually happened. I may actually have a mostly-finished mitten in my WIP bag right now. Mostly finished because I hate doing thumbs, at any time of year. That's also why my mitten is a mitten and not a glove--even though I'd rather wear a glove--since knitting a glove is like knitting five thumbs right after the other. And then you have your second glove to do. But I digress.

All that to say that my latest pattern may or may not be seasonally appropriate. 

It just depends on where you live, what your definition of appropriate is, and when you like to knit things. For me, already feeling the sticky Atlanta heat (although I'm told we're not at 100% intensity just yet, wait until July) the minute I step out my door, this is probably not a seasonally appropriate shawl. It's big, it's got a cozy weight to it, and it's not knit out of fingering-weight or linen or anything else about it that screams wear me in the summer I beg you.

But. This shawl was really damn fun to knit. So I knit it. And then I wrote a pattern for it. And then I published it, even though you really shouldn't publish knitting patterns this time of year because seasonal appropriateness. 

So, let's talk about reasons why I think this shawl is fun enough to knit anyway:

-It's fast. Size 9 needles--big but not big enough to hurt people like me who have wimpy wrists--and worsted weight yarn. That baby's gonna knit up like you would not believe. Summertime makes you sluggish, and this will help fix that.

-Tons of texture. Four different stitch patterns, with short sections so you switch gears before you get bored. See above. Your fingers, they will fly. 

-It's knit side to side, which is my favorite way to knit shawls even though not many people use it. See those cute diagonal patterns in the first photo? They're not actually knit diagonally--it just turns out that way thanks to the shawl shaping. BAM.

-Fringe. Fringe is fun.

-Every good knitter knows that fall will sneak up on you. And then Christmas comes right after fall, and you will be so behind on everything you want to knit that you won't even believe it. Start now.