#WIPWednesday

Published on April 22, 2026

Crafting continues to be slow. My partner has been ill most of last week and so I have required my modicum store of energy to take care of her. I have also been reading again. Whenever free time crops up, I now have a choice between reading and craft. Reading often wins.

Still, I am not without craft in my life. All of my crafting attention is focused on my niece's crochet shawl.

A vertical colour photograph of a section of a crochet shawl with a fingering weight yarn. The colours are white, cream, and violet pink. An orange crochet hook goes through the work. The work rests on my legs. I am wearing blue jeans, just visible at the bottom right of the image.

It is soothing to work on one project only. I do not have to think about what skills to use, about what to learn, about what to practice. I go to the study, settle on the sofa and work on the shawl. I know the rhythm of treble crochet (UK) and easily fall into it. The shawl has never grown so fast. I managed almost an entire six row repeat in one day.

I am halfway through the third colour and for the first time, the shawl feels substantial. I have to think about how to handle it, how I keep it on my lap, and when I put it away, it feels thick in the hands as if a garment already.

A vertical colour photograph of a crochet shawl in progress. It is made with fingering weight yarn in white, cream, and lavender so far. The work rests on my leg in a pile. I am wearing navy linen trousers. I am on a sofa barely visible in the image. The background of the image is a white wall with some frames on it.

I enjoy the calm this shawl brings. When the day gets too much, I can retreat to it. I turn on the radio or sit in silence, let my wrist and arm do all the work, and delight in how relaxed and easy it is now compared to the first colour I worked in.

If I carry on at this rhythm, maybe, just maybe, I can send the shawl to my niece for her birthday in June. It has never been promised as such but it would be a nice surprise.

A horizontal colour photograph of a crochet shawl in progress on a grey sofa. The shawl has three colours on: white, cream, and pinkish violet. The hook is orange. On the other side, the ball of yarn rests. Next to the hook is a diagram of the work.