We Are One…

Christine & The Sheep Shawl – Team Members for the Amazing Lace

“We are very athletic and well-traveled, but we can waste time arguing about stupid stuff.”

Christine, 36, has recently returned to college in spite of her initial fears of the younger students. She wishes that the university offered a degree in Knitology, but for now is looking at a Chemistry degree. She started knitting in February, 2005, with the support of her husband, Mike and her son, Jason. Her fourth or fifth project ever was a lace project. No one had bothered to tell her that lace was supposed to be hard, so she offered to knit a feather and fan lace shawl for a friend’s wedding. Since then, she has taken on other lace projects, including the Charlotte’s Web Shawl made of Koigu (Kooooiiiiiguuuuuu) and requiring the use of charts. She met the Sheep Shawl at the Kid and Ewe fiber festival in Boerne, Texas last November, and knew that the pattern simply had to be hers immediately. Christine admits to being neurotic, obsessive, and sometimes too much of a perfectionist. You can regularly hear about her knitting adventures on the Pointy Sticks podcast. She enjoys traveling, taking photographs, and knitting socks using the Magic Loop method. She fears knitting sweaters, not getting gauge, not having the needles she needs, and knots in her yarn.

Originally from Fibertrends, the Sheep Shawl, does not want to reveal its age to the public. An Evelyn Clark design, it features sunshine that ripples down on a village surrounded by orchards, sunflowers, and sheep. It is a simply lovely lace challenge and includes clear and well written instructions and easy to use, large print charts. Being made in Cherry Tree Hill’s laceweight merino wool and a US 3 Crystal Palace bamboo circular needle, it is an “all-around good athlete.” The shawl considers itself to be “spontaneous, competitive and funny.” It claims to have no fears and often blows off steam by simply relaxing in the knitting bag. It has spent time at Twisted Yarns and Yarntopia in Houston, Texas and looks forward to traveling with Christine this summer. The Sheep Shawl describes Christine as “very kind, gentle and patient,” but admits that one of its pet peeves about itself is that it is extremely delicate and sometimes prone to its stitches jumping off the needles.

If the team meets the challenge in time, the Sheep Shawl will be competing in the judging at the Houston Knit at Night Guild 10th anniversary conference in August. Both team members are nervous and excited about this opportunity, and are convinced that they are up to the challenge.