Sunday Knitting

The Fountain Pen Shawl that I've been working on for what seems like forever but has been actually less than two years is finally finished.

Here's the obligatory spread-out shot, though it's a bit dark.

As I may have mentioned when I started this project, I don't actually wear shawls. Or maybe that's because I never owned one. Perhaps I'll take this to work and if the air-conditioning is ever working properly I can use it to take the chill off.

Here it is blocking, spread out in all it's error-ridden glory:

I couldn't even get the whole thing in the shot, it is so big. As you can see, the blocking boards I recently bought from Knitpicks (pretty much with this project in mind) are not adequate and I had to supplement with random mismatched towels. I will likely buy another set of these blocking boards so they will be enough for any future project because they work really well. And because this is lace, it dried in about 10 seconds.

I wish I had taken photos while I was washing it, because the dye in that yarn ran like a motherf****er. I filled the dish pan probably ten times in hopes the water would eventually run clear and it never did. It lightened though and I was feeling guilty for using so much water so I stopped. I wasn't surprised that this happened because the dye also came off on my hands while I knit, which I think is one reason I worked on it so sporadically for the first year or so of the project. So despite the beautiful saturated color of this Silky Alpaca Lace, I will not use it again.

The thing about lace is that you can't see how the pattern is shaping up while you're working on it. Only when it is spread out blocking are your sins revealed. And I am surely going to shawl-knitting hell for this.

I posted an in-progress pic here, and I spread it out enough on a white surface that you can sort of see it shaping up. That's about the point where things somehow went wrong. I mean, what is going on here?

It's like the whole pattern shifted to the left. I assume that was one of those points where things weren't coming out quite right and I had to fudge it. Well, look where it got me.

It also looks in a couple of spots like the center stitch moved, which is not only inexplicable but impossible. I had stitch markers on either side of that stitch throughout the entire project and did not move them. The border is a big hot mess, and I swear to God there were errors in the pattern even though I can't find anyone else on the entire internet who had this problem. But I assure you I can do simple math, and simple math will tell you that when you start with, say, 12 stitches and increase by 3 stitches you do not end up with 13 stitches. That is the sort of thing I encountered all through the last part of this shawl.

Anyhow, none of these errors really matter because it won't be spread out like this again. It looks quite lovely draped around shoulders, and feels soft and silky, and that's really all that's important.

Sunday Knitting

Shawls in progress never really look like much, but I'm going to show you mine anyhow.

It's going remarkably well, considering how much I dislike knitting lace.

The pattern begins by casting on 5 stitches and then each row increases the number of stitches until you end up with 467 stitches per row. This is all very poorly planned. When I start on a project I'm highly motivated and have lots of momentum, as I'm sure is true for most knitters, but as time wears on the project loses its novelty, the road beginning to feel long and arduous, until I'm limping toward the finish line wishing to just be put out of my misery. Having those last rows get longer and longer might do me in. Wouldn't it make more sense to cast on the 467 stitches to start with and then decrease so the rows get shorter as time moves on and our energy wanes? If I ever make a shawl again, I'll certainly look for one constructed that way.

Another thing I've learned about is nupps. I've heard of them before but had not made them. I noticed them in the pattern before I started and when I read the stitch guide at the beginning of the pattern, they looked simple enough. To make a nupp, which is like a little bobble, you just k, yo, k, yo, k all in one stitch. Well, that's easy enough! What the stitch guide doesn't mention up front, however, is that when you are on the next row and you come to that nupp, you need purl 5 stitches together. Let me say that again: purl 5 together. Let me tell you, I will never again complain about purling 3 together. Purling 5 stitches together requires not only great dexterity and the holding of one's breath, but apparently the consuming of an entire Manhattan. It also requires a tool, though I'm not sure exactly what - I've been using the pointy end of a metal stitch holder. You just need something smaller than the needles you're using in order to pull the yarn through those 5 stitches. A tiny crochet hook would probably work really well, if I had one, but I've managed to make do. Luckily, the nupps don't come often, but when they do there's a slew of them.

In summary, this project may be more difficult than I thought when I began. But it will look lovely if I can manage to bring it to completion.