Cookie and Joan, in the Forest, with Susan.

Why yes, I did play “Clue” recently. Why do you ask?

I’m half tempted to just leave it at that and let you guess what it means. I’m sure you could come up with some interesting scenarios. Ahem.

But I won’t keep you in suspense.

I’m using the bee-u-ti-ful yarn that Cookie spun from Joan’s batts to make Susan’s Forest Canopy shawl. (On Ravelry here.)

However, I am making a modification. You knew that was coming, didn’t you?

I decided to modify the pattern a little bit to end up with a wider, shallower shawl. At first I tried to just sneak in extra increases on the right-side rows (6 per row instead of 4), but I wasn’t all that happy with how the top edge of the shawl looked. So I gave in and decided to do one increase at each end of every wrong-side row. That still gave me 6 increases over 2 rows, but it was easier to work the extra stitches into the pattern. The top edge isn’t as symmetrically perfect as the original pattern, but I’m happy with it.

Of course, one of the great things about this pattern is that it’s so easy to memorize. With the extra stitches at each edge, I have to do something a little different to start and end each RS row. Since my brain is full, I haven’t been able to commit those changes to memory, and I need to keep my modified chart handy. But other than those few stitches, the rest of the shawl flies along. If you’re interested, my project page is here.

As for Cookie’s yarn, it’s totally delightful to knit with. Having never knit with handspun before, I didn’t know it would be so much more elastic than knitting with commercial yarn. It keeps reminding me of bread dough – how when you knead it, it’s soft and silky and yields nicely under your hands, but then springs back smoothly.

And Joan’s Cupcake Fiber batts? Well, I might not know anything about spinning, but I do know a clever idea when I see it. If you spin yarn for socks, and haven’t yet taken a look at her products, go here to see why they’re so unique. It will make spinning 3-ply yarn into 2 skeins a much simpler task. Be sure to scroll down to this post to see how you can use the box to store your singles. All I know is, they make a darn pretty yarn.