Last week I wrote about a little crisis dropped into my life like a bombshell, many of you have reached out wishing me luck in resolving the issue. Your kind words and encouragement meant a lot in a time when all seemed rather doom and gloom, so thank you, thank you so much for your kindness ☺️

Since my last post we have been really busy preparing documents, answering lawyer’s (very detailed) questionnaire and asking friends for supporting statements. I am blessed with great friends who came to the rescue in moment of need - Sebastian and I shall never forget this, no words can ever express our gratitude ❤️. Things are progressing relatively well, although we are still worried and uneasy because the clock is still ticking - 24 days remaining: we have done pretty much everything that are required of us and sent everything to our lawyer who is now preparing the application forms. Fingers crossed 🤞

This week I continued to welcome the daily relief from 24 Days of Sashiko hosted by sashiko.lab. I’m really enjoying these daily stitches, each pattern is built on the simple stitch of crosses. But can you notice the difference between the left two and the two on the right? On the left the crosses are in the centre of each “grid” whilst the ones on the right the crosses are in the corners where the neighbouring grids converge. I started the workshop drawing lines to form a checked grid but over the days I started drawing grids in dotted lines and I found that this works better for me. We are almost halfway through the 24 days challenge and I am looking forward to the second half 😃

I’m using my natural dyed sashiko thread of Australian Cotton, this colourway is called Granite and it was dyed with Logwood with a homemade iron mordant. If you are interested in plant dyed sashiko threads you can find them here.

On the knitting front I finished the test knit of Moondancer Shawl and it turned out beautifully!

I really enjoyed knitting this shawl, it is relaxing enough with the garter stripes and interesting enough with the easy lace panels in between. The lace pattern is intuitive so once you have gone past the set-up row you can just follow the stitches.

This is a new collaboration between myself, Cat & Sparrow Fibres and knitwear designer Dominique Trad. The pattern uses 50g each of the striping colours and 100g of the main colour for the lace, all in fingering weight. My test knit actually used less of each colour but different knitting tensions may result in different usage.

I am busy dyeing up different colour combos, the yarn is a gorgeous merino/alpaca/nylon blend, it is a well rounded yarn with a soft halo that showcases the stitches beautifully.

We will be offering Pattern and Yarn Kits and the release date is set on 24 November, so mark your calendars 😍.

✿

Compared to last week this week is so much calmer, but there were still moments when Sebastian and I would stop in our tracks and become overwhelmed by the magnitude of our situation and how a negative outcome could impact our lives. For me, I am once again saved by my crafts, the daily stitching gave me so much comfort and reassurance, like one of the ladies on Instagram commented, I was literally stitching my life back together, one stitch at a time.

Thank you for reading. Happy Fibre Arts Friday!

Much love,

Cat ❤️