The Gift is in the Giving

Now that the item in question has been completed and handed over to the recipient, I can safely reveal the secret surprise project I hinted at in a previous post. Tada! It was a lacy shawl crocheted especially for my friend Suzanne, who recently celebrated her 40th birthday. Thankfully the yarn called for in the pattern came in Suzanne's favorite color and shade of all time! It's 70% fine kid mohair and 30% silk. If you don't know much about yarn, all you need to know for the purposes of this blog post is that this stuff is SUPER fine and light, like crocheting with fuzzy sewing thread. It took some getting used to (read: it was a pain in the arse), but was well worth it for the light airy quality and softness it gave to the finished piece. This is quite possibly the simplest and most basic crochet pattern one could possibly follow, but I must confess that it was tedious work. I took it with me on our recent trip to visit BAM in Portland (post on that to come soon) and worked on it nearly every spare moment I had, and yet I still didn't make it all the way to the pattern's recommended 29.5" width. (Seriously? Did the pattern writer really think that last half inch was so important?) I stopped at 25" wide, which turned out to be a good thing. Suzanne is a tiny little thing, and at that shorter width it fit her petite frame perfectly. I finished off the two shorter ends with tiny glass beads, which added a little flair and sparkle. In the end I was quite pleased--mostly because Suzanne was so surprised and delighted. Hooray, a successful gift!