Monday was the feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross. The search for that cross was the work of Saint Helena. However, it was a happy accident that I chose this week to highlight the pattern Saint Helena. This pair of fingerless mitts is quick to knit, cozy and warm with simple stranded colorwork, and is a great use of bits and bobs of leftover aran weight yarn. It takes me about an hour to make one of these, and about two and a half hours, including weaving in ends and the hands on time blocking to make a complete pair. These are perfect for gift giving and Christmas is only just over three months away.

As a gift to you, I have a coupon code for this pattern for 20% off through the end of the day PDT September 25, 2020, on both PayHip and Ravelry. It is also available for sale on LoveCrafts, but I am unable to create promotions there. I would be happy to refund you the 20% if you e-mail me the receipt of your purchase there between today and September 25. To receive the 20% off, please enter the coupon code elevation in either your PayHip or Ravelry cart.


In a non-accidental way, Ember Days is for sale now on PayHip, LoveCrafts, and Ravelry. Today is the second Autumnal Ember Day, tomorrow being the third, and final.

Ember Days are 12 days in the year, four sets of three, set aside for prayer, fasting and giving to the needy. Ember, in this case, comes from the word simply meaning time or season (a corruption of the words Quatuor Tempora for four times). So, these are seasonal days of prayer. This shawlette is a simple triangle that is perfect for contemplation, with the easiest short rows you can imagine to shape the fluttering edge, giving a little hint to heads of grain and wildflowers in the eyelets.

I'm so glad I heeded Rich's encouragement to finish this sooner than I had scheduled, so we could take advantage of our sunflowers in the photography. Now that we live in the dark of the Nothing all the time, even if the sunflowers hadn't started to droop, you wouldn't have been able to see them! This quick, little shawlette is fun to knit and uses only 100 g of fingering yarn. I hope you enjoy knitting and wearing it as much as I do! I have worn it even as a head covering at church, which was quite cheering. My beta knitters told me they enjoyed knitting it, and liked that it was simple enough to knit while watching television or movies, and some finished in just two or three days.

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Labels: Design, Flashback, Homemaking, Knitting, Patterns