It’s done, it’s done! Yesterday I finished the Stormborn shawl from the Game of Thrones Mystery Knit Along and I am so pleased with it!

Yarn: Tibetan Cloud Fingering
Pattern: Stormborn Shawl

Since this was a mystery knit along I didn’t know what the pattern would be, and I totally lucked out with my yarn colour choice. The green suits the dragon scales very well and in general I love the colour. After a wash and a block the yarn is also very soft. The only problem I had with it was that the thread thickness seems to vary quite a lot, and although that in itself isn’t so much of a problem, the fact that the yarn broke on me twice in the thin parts is. Both times it gave me a mini heart-attack, and in general I prefer my knitting without any kind of heart attack. I wasn’t sure how much yarn I would need for the shawl, and despite it’s name the weight does not seem to be fingering. So of the two skeins (a whopping 900 meters, 100 grams) that I bought I still have 43 grams left. Which is more than enough to do another project!

The pattern is great as well, it’s interesting enough to keep you motivated up until the end, but repetitive enough to not have to constantly rip back because of a counting mistake. Plus the end result is huuuge, and I’m all for huge shawls. And I can totally picture Daenerys rocking this, of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men etc. etc. etc.

I’ve had two lovely and relaxing weeks of vacation and it is with a little bit of sadness that I’ve gone back to work, back to reality. First I enjoyed a relaxing week in France, after which I went to Ireland for a little more active holiday. And I’ve drawn some important knitting conclusions while I was away!

First of all apparently I can knit in the car without getting car sick! For someone that already gets car sick from reading too many road signs this is an amazing discovery. Truth be told I only tried knitting hexipuffs, as I thought it’d be less likely getting car sick with an easy and memorised pattern. Mainly because of the long drive to France this resulted in 13 happy little puffs finished and my grand total now stands at 24 puffs!

My second grand conclusions is that I am still too chicken to carry knitting in my hand luggage. I’ve read some stories online of people who had no problems at all with getting their knitting on a plane, but I am still left with the irrational fear that airport security will look at me disapprovingly while ripping out a beautiful piece of knitting, after which they will dramatically snap my beautiful knitting needles in half whilst laughing maniacally. This meant that for my second trip, for which only hand luggage was booked, I was to be without knitting. In other words, a week without sadly making any progress on any of my projects. Which doesn’t mean it wasn’t an amazing week, the beauty of Dublin and the Irish countryside left me speechless at times.

As for the socks I was contemplating about whether they should be frogged or not, I have come to a conclusion. They will be frogged and I am sure the yarn will make another pair of beautiful socks. The little voice in my head kept on complaining that I would not be happy with these socks and the chances of me eventually finishing these was becoming smaller and smaller. In the end I think I made the right decisions, although it not being an easy one.

So you might be thinking that 13 small hexipuffs and half a socks that will be frogged is not much knitting in two weeks. Luckily I’ve also been making some progress on the Game of Thrones Mystery Knit Along shawl, for which I am probably the last of the participants that has not finished this yet. But I won’t despair! The pattern is so pretty and the yarn I’m using (which I bought on yarn shop day) is a perfect colour for the dragon scale like look. Although it is not really a mystery anymore I’ll try to first make a bit more progress before posting a proper picture, but I promise it’s gonna be good. Almost done with clue 3 now and with 6 clues in total this can only mean that I am half way-ish. Plus it felt pretty epic when the weather of France decided it was time for some rain and I could work on the shawl with a sea view.

Meanwhile back in the Netherlands it has been raining for two days straight, and I’m not even exaggerating, there has literally not been one minute without rain for two days. This has made my hands itching to make something warm and wintery. However I must.. resist.. casting on.. wintery stuf.. because according to the weather report we will hop back into summer this friday.