Summer knitting?

Oooof! Yesterday we had 33 degree heat (94 fahrenheit) and 93% humidity - and in the afternoon a thunder storm and downpour of rain where flooded streets were unable to cope with the sudden deluge. Today's predicted to be more of the same. February weather in December. And this comes after the hottest Sydney November on record. Climate change, anybody? So it seems a bit perverse to be blogging about a winter shawl that I've finally managed to block. But knitters will not be surprised by this unseasonable behavior; we know knitting's not a seasonal activity.



This is such a great pattern. It's Ashburn by designer Melanie Berg and combines some of my habitually loved elements - garter stitch and stripes - with blocks of colour, some unexpected textured stitching, and a single picot edge.



I notice from Ravelry that many of the knitters who've completed Ashburn have chosen to do so in bright colours, and it looks wonderful done this way. But I had yarn where the colours melded into one another, and I think it also looks good in this more tonal variation.



I wanted continue my fascination with 'sticky' yarns that are so much a part of knitting in Scandinavia and so I used the Geilsk Yarn that I'd acquired in Copenhagen. Two of the skeins were a generous gift from designer Bente Geil who uses New Zealand wool processed in Denmark for her own range of yarns. The shawl has softened with soaking and blocked beautifully.

At the moment I can imagine few things worse than wearing a woolly shawl. It will need to be carefully stored away for quite a few months. But I know I'll enjoy it next winter....or maybe I could plan some northern hemisphere travel to escape this weather?