Shrug Love

I've always loved shrugs -- the way they can jazz up a simple outfit or add an extra touch to something already special.  With knitting, there are so many wonderful shrug patterns that I could spend a year feeling satisfied with knitting shrugs.  Here's my new shrug love: the shirred shrug.

During the weekend when I was at the fiber arts festival, I spent an afternoon at WEBS in Northampton.  Amazingly, I've never been to WEBS although we travel up to Northampton at least once a year.  WEBS was celebrating its 37th anniversary with a major sale, and I went with a purpose.  Starting on July 1, I'll be participating in a year of projects on Ravelry, and with notebook in hand, I roamed the store looking for the right yarns to make some of the projects on my year-long list. I had a lot of success. I found yarns that the patterns called for and comparable substitutes.

And then I stumbled onto this shrug. It caught my eye right away. I love the shirred detail that runs across the back, the ribbed sleeves, and the drape of the fabric.  It's knitted in Valley Yarns Southwick, and I chose this vibrant blue because it's M's favorite color.  She is an avid dancer who studies seriously throughout the year and I think this is the perfect dancer shrug.The pattern is fun to do -- increases, decreases, and garter stitch mainly -- and it's a quick knit especially in this soft cotton/bamboo mix.  I'll be making this little shrug many more times as there are many little dancers in my life.