At this time last year we were in the same situation, isolating because there’s Covid in the house. My daughter feels rotten with a throbbing headache, bodily aches, and a sore throat. She can’t remember how she felt last winter and is unsure of if it was worse the first time around. She’s double vaccinated. I’m wondering if it made any difference for her?

Thankfully everyone else is still healthy. She’s using a separate bathroom and is isolating in her room. Last year no one else caught it, but Omicron is said to be more contagious. We’ll see what happens. Last night I felt nauseous and my appetite has decreased the last few days. The latest research says these are 2 new symptoms of the Omicron variant, and not everyone is experiencing the cough, fever, and shortness of breath usually associated with the virus. My antigen test was negative today however.

Last year when we isolated friends and family rushed to bring groceries and drop off home cooked meals. This time around it’s a non event. No one has offered to help us while our movements are restricted. It’s a good thing the cupboards are well stocked! We won’t starve.

To be fair, I haven’t told many people, and I haven’t asked anyone for help. I feel like everyone is struggling in one way or another. I have other friends who are isolating at the moment. Half of the country is in the same situation as us! Many local business have had to close because of staff shortages. It’s a mess.

I’ve been trying to make the most out of the time at home. Yesterday we baked scones. I love the recipe from the L’Oisive Thé, café and sister shop to La Bein Aimeé, in Paris. The recipe can be found in the PomPom Quarterly issue 35 (Winter 2020), along with gorgeous colourwork patterns by Stephen West. I dream of one day visiting the café in France, enjoying a hot cup of coffee, and buying some of that gorgeous yarn! In the meantime I’ll have to content myself with baking in my kitchen.

This evening I’m looking forward to working on my Find Your Fade shawl. I received a fade set of 5 skeins of Irish dyed LITLG yarn last Christmas. This Christmas I received 6 more which I intend to use in a sweater by the same designer, Andrea Mowry. (Check out her weekly podcast. I really enjoy it!)

The shawl pattern calls for 7 colours, although it’s possible to be flexible, so I planned to only use 5. Now that I have more fingering weight yarn to play with, I’m toying with the idea of using a couple of my new skeins as the colours compliment each other. I’m definitely going to add Soft Day (photographed below). For the last colour I’ll either revert back to the first colour or see about adding Barefoot. I’ll keep you updated as I make progress.

What are you working on this WIP Wednesday?