Here We Go Again...The Chinook Shawl...

One could imagine after the last shawl I did I would want to go a good long while before picking up another shawl.  Shawls are big, long, time consuming projects and those last few repeats are pretty much penance.  The cast off at the end seems to take an eternity.  One would think I'd be on to smaller, more manageable projects, like mittens for winter, socks, or hats.  Heaven knows I could always use a few more berets!  I'm addicted to those things.  It would only seem logical to take a break from long and tedious.

Yet here I am, once again diving into the shores of a shawl.  Right now I'm in the early stages, that new romance.  It's those brief, fast and furious knitting, those rows that fly off the needles with reckless abandon and the insatiable desire for nothing but that project.  Isn't that the way all new projects go, all romances for that matter? In the beginning it's all craziness and passion.  Then, over time the passion, shiny, and new fades, and then you're left with the long, hard slog for the duration of the relationship.  When everything is over you look back upon what you've done, and more often than not you're looking back in joy at the beauty of it all, and then take it with you into whatever you do next.

Well, here I am, fresh off the high from finishing the previous shawl and casting another one on.  It's like the success of having the first one come off the needles helped me forget about all the craziness that comes with the long wait and I'm just left with the shiny and new.

No, relationships aren't it at all.  It's pregnancy.  When you first find out you're pregnant, most women are overjoyed.  They're excited for their new life, and for the next few weeks they can do nothing but focus on that little creature inside of them.  Then as time goes on, the pregnancy starts to wear on you.  You're starting to feel uncomfortable and tired all the time.  Man, babies take forever to be born!  Then as you reach those last final days you're begging every moment for it to end.  Just come out already!  Meet the world!  Stop torturing your mama!  Then labor starts.  It's that long, hard slog, but the finish line is in sight.  Then the baby is there, and before long you're looking at your significant other thinking that was so worth it, and now you want to have another one.  You forget about how long and hard the pregnancy was, and how painful childbirth is.  All you see is that there's this precious baby and you want another one.

That's what shawl knitting is, but unlike having babies, with a shawl you can jump right back into one.  Very few people consider that they've already got two shawls in their closet.  Two are enough.  Unlike kids, you could have so many shawls that they're coming out your ears and they're not too much of a problem.  Well...maybe storing them...  Unlike kids you don't have to feed them or raise them.  They don't require much care.  This makes them perfectly ideal.  And, unlike kids, if you find you have to many, or absolutely want one that you can't justify having, you can always give it away!  Also, unlike with kids, you don't have to wonder what they're going to turn out like.  Most times you have a pattern and you just have to follow along.  The pattern comes with a picture of the end result, so you've got everything to know, with some minor possibilities for change here and there, exactly what the outcome should be.

So, here I am, sitting with my little basket of yarn, my previous shawl in my hand as I'm about to toss it on top of the basket.  It looked so pretty, that yarn.  It was so tempting.  How could I resist casting on?  It all just looked so irresistable there, so beautiful.  I couldn't help but touch it.  Once I had it in my hands I couldn't help but want to work with it.  It is, after all, a logical conclusion.  The soft yarn in my hands, I tell you, it was truly an impossibility to resist!

Into the basket went the shawl.  Out of the basket came the yarn.  I pulled out the correct needles and away I went.  The cast on was quick as ever and I was into the rows, listening to podcasts as I went.  It seemed easy enough.  I put it down for the night, determined that first thing the next morning I would pick it up and continue where I left off.  This shawl would be done in no time if I had my way!

That's when the trouble started.  I realized that my count was off.  All the other sections had five stitches.  Why did this one have four?  It took me a while to figure out exactly where the mistake had been made, but I did it!  Several rows back I forgot to yarn over and that's where all the trouble started!  At first I tried to pick up the stitch and work it through to the current working row.  I wanted to preserve my beautiful shawl!  Unfortunately, that just turned into even more of a mess of things.  Next I went at it, tinking back to try and keep the shawl together.  I realized it was going to take forever.  I had to tink back almost ten rows!

Defeated, I gave up.  I decided to rip it all out and start over again.  It was depressing, but I knew with all the yarn overs and all of that I wasn't a talented enough knitter to rip back and salvage it without a life-line, something I've never had the brains to use.

Thankfully, a miracle happened!  The yarn somehow naturally preserved the cast on and the row after it!  I was able to save a little bit of time after all!  There was one less step to catch back up.

I picked up the stitches and ran with it, this time slower and more carefully.  I counted everything as though I somehow thought the count was going to escape me.  It was all carefully, slowly, and methodically done.  As if I'm not a slow enough knitter in the first place, now I've got to deal with even slower knitting formed of paranoia that I'm going to screw it up again.

So, here I was, in love with my shawl again, enamored with my shawl again.  Again the stitches began to fly off my needles, at their turtle-slow pace, that is.  I'm well on my way.  The only question that remains is how long it's going to take me to finish this one.  I'm just glad it's on size 8 needles this time...and those are going to be quicker to knit with, and break much less easily.

The Shawl Is Done! Well...Mostly....

So, the incredible journey of my shawl is complete.  No longer do I need to struggle with the long burdensome rows that took on average an hour to complete.  No longer must I look at it and think, "When, oh when will you be done!"  Now all I have to do is look at it and wonder how I'm going to manage to block it...and when I'm going to feel motivated to weave in all the ends.  At least that part's easy.  And if I could ever get use of the bed, I could block it out on there pretty quick.  Unfortunately, the bed is being taken up...which I'm not happy about...but I digress...

Anyhow, after this whole incredible journey the shawl is finally done!  I'm finally able to say that I'll be able to wear it!  It's not going to take long for the shawl to be blocked out with all the ends taken care of.  It's not going to take long before I can wrap it around my shoulders and show off it's beauty.  Unfortunately, it just might be a while before the weather calls for it.

I definitely understand the thinking I had.  If I knit the shawl going into fall, it should be done by winter.  It seems like a fantastic idea.  Unfortunately, I overestimated my knitting skills.  I didn't think about exactly how long it would take to knit that shawl, and exactly how many hours I could dedicate to it.  I didn't think about the needles breaking.  I didn't think about most of what got in the way.

I've learned my lesson.  From now on I should only knit shawls I'll need by winter in the summer and spring.  That way I have a prayer of having it done by fall!  Then I should have a couple months before I need to start thinking about wearing it for winter, and if disaster strikes?  Well, I've got some wiggle room.

Two Rows and a Cast-Off Away!!!

I'm almost there on this infernal shawl!  As the title kind of gives away, I'm two rows and a cast-off away from being finished.  That means I'm almost there!  I'll get this shawl done sooner or later.  It's been a journey, but I'm into the home stretch.  I just can't wait until I'm finally done with it!

It's been quite a journey with this shawl.  I've been through so much with it.  I started it with friends and it seemed to cruise along.  Then I put it down for a while due to stress, and back it came, my faithful companion as always.  I worked on it until I had a problem with the first needle.  Knit Picks was great in sending me a new set, but it went to the wrong address, so I had to wait.  Eventually I decided to pick it up again, getting a new set of needles at the local yarn shop.  I love that place and it really pleases me that they now carry Knit Picks stuff!  I might just have to start buying all of my Knit Picks stuff there, needles, cables, all of that.  Now if only they would carry the yarn!  Actually, I don't terribly care for the yarn so much, as the shawl kits.  I don't know how I ended up on this whole shawl kit kick.

At this point, I have no idea how I'm going to block my shawl.  It's so big that I might be able to block it on the bed, if no one is going to be sitting or laying on the bed for a good long while.  That might just work.  In all honesty, I just need to suck it up, get some blocking pads, some blocking pins, and be prepared for big projects like this.  With our new baby gate I can keep the kids out of the living room long enough to block the shawl, which means I'll definitely have a way to do it!

I'm just so excited to see this shawl done!  I almost wish I still had my natural hair color too.  I look so good in earth tones when I've got my natural brown hair.  The shawl I'm making after this is earth tones too.  I can't wait to see them all done up!  They're going to be beautiful!  Now I just need to get some garments for my wardrobe to match.  Good thing jeans and black go with everything...

I Love Him...but He Can't Touch My Knits!

I love my boyfriend, I really do.  He has his moments, but what man doesn't.  I've come to the conclusion that it's part of the male condition.  They just don't think sometimes.  They throw tantrums.  They yell.  That's just how they deal with things.  However, when I'm about ready to have a meltdown, he's almost always there to keep me from falling apart too badly.

Unfortunately, this is where the story gets sad.  Remember how I was making that entrelac hat?  Well, I finally finished it.  I was so proud of myself.  The end of the pattern was a nightmare.  The hat just didn't want to come together the way it should.  I was pretty miserable.  I couldn't wait until it was done so I could start wearing it.

Of course, I did finish it.  I wore it a pretty good deal.  My boyfriend thought it was cute enough, though, I have to admit, it didn't match anything I had.  Still, I was going to wear it until the end of time.  I'd made it.  It was my first entrelac project and I adored it.  It lived on the floor beside the bed so I could scoop it up and throw it on.  Yes, it was a little too big, since it was made with the wool dreads in mind, but I didn't have them anymore.  Even so, it was perfect and made me happy.  I kind of liked to over-sized feel of it.

One day, unbeknownst to me, my darling boyfriend pulled the laundry together, completely forgetting that I have items that need to be hand washed only.  He threw the hat in there and it went through the wash and the dryer.  This hat went from being just a bit too big to being absolutely massive...as in, out of control massive.  I can't wear the hat anymore.  I don't think I can find a way to make that hat wearable by anyone!  It just exploded!  The hat band is almost twice it's original size!

I have no idea whether it was the bamboo yarn or the washing process.  I don't know what did it to my beautiful hat, but when I realized it, I almost cried.  I loved my hat.  I spent so many hours working on it!  It was absolutely traumatizing.

This isn't the first time my love has destroyed my beloved knit goods.  He felted the outfit I made for my son's first day of life.  He felted a pair of longies too.  It's frustrating.  It's infuriating!  I've come to the conclusion that I need to hide my knitting come laundry day, at least until I can get a washer and dryer so I can start doing it all myself!

Zephyr Needles and the Fall/Winter Shawl

Okay, I'm finally back on track with knitting.  This shawl has been put on hold more times than I can count.  This time the needle broke again and it wasn't my fault.  I've come to learn with these needles, I've got to be careful with them.  If I get too angry and rough with them, they break.  I think a set of wooden needles would be a little bit easier to work with, but I love my acrylic zephyr needles.  They're so nice on my poor hands.

This shawl is going to be the death of me.  I'm finding I need to bribe myself through pattern repeats in order to get anything done.  If I do a couple pattern repeats, I can write.  If I do a couple pattern repeats, I can go chat online with a friend for ten minutes.  If I do a couple pattern repeats, I can have a snack.  It's horrible to think of the way I have to bribe myself to get through just a couple more patterns of this infernal shawl!

I feel bad saying that.  The start of this shawl was so fantastic!  Granted, it was almost a year ago now that I started, or at least the better part of a year.  I spent all my time working away at it, without a care in the world, like I had nothing better to do with my time.  While homeschooling my kids, I knit.  While talking with my room mates, I knit.  It didn't matter what I was doing, I had that shawl, and it seemed to be positively flying off the needles.

Somewhere around the last couple repeats of the falling leaves chart I started to realize I was getting bored with the pattern.  I tried to convince myself that I could get through it.  I would be on to a new pattern soon enough.  I could make it through this long, hard slog!  It seemed to be enough to keep me going, because I made it out of the falling leaves chart, and on to the snowflakes chart.

The next two charts worked up fairly quickly.  The fields of blue for the snowflakes chart had enough variety that it was challenging and engaging.  I have to admit, more than a few times I just gave up on making sure the pattern was perfect because I just got confused.  It's not flawless, but I don't think anyone will look that close to notice.  There's a lot of repeats of that chart across.

The snowdrifts chart was like a little piece of heaven.  It was simple, easy, and delightful.  It reminded me of the feather and fan shawls I made for my daughter years back.  The alternating colors kept it interesting enough and it seemed to make the pattern fly by that much quicker.  Once that was over it was all of eleven rows to the finish.  I was convinced I would be done in no time.

Of course, my needle had to break on the first row of the icicle chart.  My house mate moved my knitting back to the floor, then forgot it was there and tripped over it.  He heard something snap and the needle broke.  He didn't have the heart to look at the damage, so I didn't know until a day later, after having moved my knitting bag around.  Thankfully the damage wasn't too bad and I was able to salvage it pretty well.  It wasn't exactly perfect through the section dropped off the broken needles, but I could work with it.  I think if it had been in any other section I would have cried.

So here I am, two rows and about a third of the way through the third row and I'm realizing what hell this is.  The chart is so incredibly long across that it's painful.  I keep finding myself thinking, "Can't I just cast off now?  It'll look fine with a short gray section.  I'm sure it will be fine!"  Of course, knowing the kind of perfectionist I am, maybe no one else would know, but anyone who looked at the pattern would know instantly that the last section was far too shallow.  I couldn't have that.  I have to finish it out to the end.  Of course, now I'm realizing just what a slog is!

You would think this would put me off of shawl knitting.  I'd be staring at the new shawl, finally all balled up and in it's box, waiting to be started.  The yarn looks so enticing, but I'd know exactly what I was in for.  I would put it off for a couple of years until I got to the point where I'd have the patience to sit through those long last rows, when I could work the shawl from start to finish.  Instead, I'm overjoyed at the next shawl and can't wait to pull it out of the bag and cast it on.  I have to remind myself that I'm not allowed to cast on another shawl until this one is finished.  I find myself lusting over other shawls.  There's the shipwreck shawl on Knitty that I adore.  There's another Seasons shawl on Knit Picks.  I find myself wanting more and more to knit more shawls.  They're the perfect garment.  You can wrap them over any garment for a little extra warmth, and no matter what you do, they always make a classy accessory.  I'm becoming a shawl addict.

Of course, in order to have these shawls, in order to wear them, I have to actually finish them.  That means I need to take enough time out of my busy life to work on these endless rows that seem to take an eternity.  I have to work through the long, challenging portions at the end.  And then, when all is said and done...I still need to figure out where to block them...