ANOTHER Finish - and I LOVE it

I finished my Clarus Shawl and I absolutely LOVE it....

It all just came together so easily and only took me about 3 weeks from start to finish..

This shawl was knit using "Lavish", 100% Alpaca fingering weight yarn from a company called Interamerica.  I bought it on ebay years ago and it is soft and squishy and feels wonderful.  I used 3.5 - 50 gram balls (about 200 meters on each ball)....

I've already started on the next one which is made in lace weight Cashmere that I've had in my stash for years (I just didn't know what I wanted to do with it).  I bought it from Colourmart in England and it's a little different as the yarn is still on the cone and doesn't feel like much just yet as it's still "oiled" and needs to be washed when it's finished to make the yarn "bloom".  I did do a small swatch to see what it feels like after it's bloomed and it is like a little piece of heaven....more to come on this one later.

Right now I have to get busy on a cross stitch square I'm stitching for a special project which involves 19 other stitchers.  A few months ago a dear friend of mine, Chelsea Umbach Yates,  passed away.  She was part of an on-line group of cross stitchers I belong to and is very very missed by all in the group.  Wanting to do something special to remember her but not knowing what, a bunch of us decided that we would start this project.  Chelsea loved Heaven and Earth designs and artwork from Hannah Lynn.  She had commissioned Hannah Lynn to do a special painting for her.  Heaven and Earth charted the design and what we decided to do was divide the chart into 20 squares (identical in size) and have each of us stitch a square.  The chart is called "Chelsea's Gift" (clickable).  Chelsea had undergone a double lung and heart transplant from a very special person (donor).  This gift made it possible for Chelsea to live for another 18 months as a healthy person before complications took her from us.  When completed all the squares will be sent to me and I'll be making it into a patchwork quilt (to be hung on a wall) and we will be gifting it to Chelsea's mother.  We hope she loves it and knows how much we all love Chelsea.  If you look closely at the design you'll see that the mermaid is being handed a heart and two lungs from the octopus.  Chelsea was a scuba diver (as is  her mother) and I believe her nickname was little mermaid.  Sadly she hadn't been able to dive for a long time because of her illness but it didn't stop her from loving the ocean and all the magic it holds...

Now off to stitch.... Love you Chelsea