Yesterday, I received an awesome new project bag from Zig Zag Stitches and as it’s larger than my usual sock-sized bags, I immediately felt the need to cast something on so I could use it.

A while back, I made a road trip to Shall We Knit? and rid their sale closet of their entire stock of Eco Purity, a chunky wool/alpaca blend.  Nine of the fifteen balls I picked up were in a dark heathered grey called Coal, and I had decided to make a nice big cozy shawl from it, using Kate Atherley’s Rickenbacker shawl pattern.  (Truth be told, she had already made this combo for herself; I was merely copycat-ing her idea!)

Then last week, she released a worsted weight half-Pi shawl pattern she called Sick Day Shawl (she created it while she had a cold, and said it was easy enough to do even while doped up on cold meds!)  I have been wanting to cast it on ever since I saw it on her a couple of weekends ago.  I confess to liking “easy” knits since I knit in front of the TV a lot, and I never knit small shawls anymore because I so rarely wear them.  This seemed perfect.

Kate, by coincidence, is a huge Doctor Who fan, so it seemed fitting that my inaugural project for this awesome bag be one of her designs.

A  chunky weight shawl on US10/6mm needles…I am thinking this is going to work up very quickly!