Last week, I flew to Johannesburg on business.  This meant two very long flights and a week by myself in the hotel.  This meant that I needed some travel knitting – something that is easy to carry, easy to knit, lightweight, and fairly mindless.

I had some very beautiful skeins of Blue Sky Metalico, three skeins each in the three shades Opal, Silver, and Gold Dust.

This is fantastic yarn, so incredibly soft and shimmery.  I bought it at Tribe Yarns in Richmond, London, on my first visit there over the summer.  It is a great shop, and one I plan to re-visit.  (I just received a newsletter from the owner, Milli, saying that they have moved into bigger premises – right next door.)

For a while, I have been thinking about knitting another Cool Boots Shawl:

I designed and knitted this shawl to celebrate my 300th post on this blog.  The original was knitted with Isager fingering weight yarn in very bright shades of red, coral, and fuschia.

I thought it would be fun to make one in neutrals.

This is a sportweight yarn, so the knitting is much faster.  I have almost finished the third of three, long, asymmetrical stripes.  Here is one end, as it stands now (the gold stripe is half-finished):

And here is the other end:

The shawl takes on a whole new look in the neutral tones, I think.  The Metalico is 50% Baby Alpaca and 50% Silk,  and is all natural – no dyes.  I love that it comes naturally in these soft, glimmery, metallic shades.

I’m still recovering from my sprained ankle, although I can see some progress.  A big thank you to everyone who is marching today in support of our wonderful, safe, strong, multicultural European Union!