One of my favorite knitting projects, particularly in summer, is a good fingering-weight shawl. A close friend of mine celebrates her birthday in July, and I think a shawl is the ultimate all-season gift: perfect for wrapping around your shoulders if there’s a chill in the air (or some serious air conditioning), it can also be worn in cooler months around the neck for warmth.
This year, what with coronavirus lockdowns and a strong desire to keep my family safe and avoid interacting with people wherever possible, I decided to knit from stash as much as I could (I could also probably use some newly-reopened stash space for future purchases, to be fair). I happen to have a decent size stash of yarn – Rhinebeck hauls from previous years, visits to local yarn shops on various trips, and a healthy relationship with the yarn shops closest to me mean that I have an adequate amount of yarn to handle my normal volume of knitting for a while if needed. After a good search through my stash, I found this gorgeous Corrie sock yarn (colorway: “cowboy”) from Flying Goat Farm in Frederick, Maryland. It’s beautiful to work with – super soft, and the colors reminded me as much of the ocean and a visit to the beach as they did cowboys and denim.
When I was looking around for a pattern in late May, I specifically wanted to support a Black American knitting designer with my purchase (and I plan to continue to support more diverse makers in the future). I knew about Jeanette Sloan’s list of POC designers and crafters from previous discussions online about diversity in knitting, so after some time perusing the various links I quickly fell in love with the “Nyah” shawl pattern from Tamy Gore, a designer in neighboring New Jersey publishing as Narrow Path Designs. It seems appropriate to note that although it’s not required to pay for use of the POC designers list, it’s generally a good idea to pay people for their work, and you can buy Jeanette Sloan a coffee to thank her here. (The POC designers list has evolved into the searchable BIPOC in Fiber website).
The “Nyah” shawl pattern is a delight to knit- enough fancy needlework to keep it interesting with the lace in the middle, and enough garter stitch to make it easy to cruise along for extended periods (such as, say, meetings where I’m not required to present anything). And I adore a picot bind-off; there are some that may say it takes a while, but in my (knit-nerd) opinion it is such fun (fancy footwork, as it were). 
I typically bring my knitting just about anywhere, and in summertime there aren’t many greater pleasures than sitting by a body of water or kayaking out on a calm pond/small lake with my knitting while my husband fishes (it’s handy to have a partner whose interests work well with your own, imo). This particular project came along as we discovered Lock Five on the Champlain Canal in Schuylerville, NY, and when we investigated the fishing possibilities on the Hudson at a little out-of-the-way spot on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike/Hike path in Watervliet, NY, as well as a few hours on the Mohawk/Erie Canal at Peebles Island State Park, across from Waterford, NY. I like the idea that my knitting has already had a few adventures, so it’s imbued with the enjoyment of those hours to be shared with the recipient in adventures to come.
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Notes from the journey... 