Hand knit black shrug

Hello everyone!

How is everyone doing? I'm doing good....just appreciating what I have and feeling grateful for everything good that is happening in my life right now. No complaints. So much of sadness and problems going on around the world right now, I'm just thankful for the blessing God has given me and my family.

Alhamdulillah, I finally got around to complete making my hand knit black shrug. This is the second hand knit shrug I've made. I made this one for me. The first one I made was for my Mom. I've learned a lot from my first experience knitting a shrug. So for the second one I'm more brave in designing the look that I want for my very own shrug. I'm so relieved that it's done and I can finally wear it when the weather is chilly especially when the rainy season is here. I don't have a good sweater to wear so this shrug will be handy in times of need.

Although I love the black colour, I don't think I will knit in this colour for my future knitting projects. My eyes are not as good as they used to be when I was younger so, it's been quite a challenge to knit in this colour. There were many times when I had to undo the knit and do it over and over because I wasn't sure of what I was doing. Can't see the pattern I knit clearly since it is black. I definitely prefer to knit using light coloured yarns. 

I started knitting this black shrug on 16th of January 2018....and finished knitting and did some crochet finishing on it around the same month and date this year. I just didn't have the time to blog or take photos of it earlier. I used a pair of metal knitting needles for this project. I do like metal but bamboo needles are always my favourite. It's so smooth and easy to knit. I find that using these long metal needles are such a challenge for me. I still prefer the bamboo circular knitting needles. Easier to manage and does not hurt my hands.

I wish I had taken more photos of me knitting this shrug in the beginning. Didn't think it was important back then but now it is. The shrug itself does have flaws. Can't help it. I'm a beginner. I make mistakes. I'm just not good at repairing my mistakes sometimes. Soon, with more practice I believe I will be better at what I do and will not have a lot of problems knitting big projects. Practice is key.

I have a plan to crochet a cardigan this year. I've always wanted to do that. Researched about how to do it about a year ago, so I'm pretty excited to start. A year ago, my ability to crochet was not so good, but now I have some confidence to do it. All thanks to my persistence in making those mask extenders. I've really learned a lot from making those crochet mask extenders. So glad I tried making them because it has made me improve my crochet skills. I'm happy I tried even though I wasn't good at it. :)