Tag Archives: knit shawl

Finally Finished!

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I’ve had a little run of… we’ll say “projects that haven’t been too successful.”  There were the socks that ended up three sizes too small, the woven scarf that took a left turn (literally) and the sweater that didn’t go to plan.  What with *vaguely gesturing* everything that’s happening, it just seemed to make sense that none of my knitting is working out either.  This whole spring/summer/year seems cursed.

Anyway, with all that, I decided I needed to finish something.  I have had my Stonecroft shawl literally sitting on my desk, looking at me for a good 4 months now.  It was basically done, except that I had lost yarn chicken while binding off the last 10 or so stitches.  I got frustrated with it, couldn’t decide how to fix it, and just… let it sit there.

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So, last weekend I decided NO! I’m going to finish something.  And it’s going to be successful, by god!  I ripped out a couple rows and re-bound-off.  (I had been toying with the idea of ripping way back to make the border wider, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.  A decision I’m glad I made.)

And, within an evening, I had finished the project that had been sitting, teasing me for months.

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I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out- I’m not even mad at the slightly-narrower-than-called-for border.  It’s lovely, and I’m so pleased with how it turned out.

Of course, now that I’ve finished it, the weather has turned and I have no use for a cozy shawl…  But isn’t that always the way?

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Have you finished any projects lately?

Good news/bad news

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So, I’ve got good news and bad news about my shawl.

Good news: I’ve made it almost to the end.  I finally decided to stop adding repeats and start the border.  It’s a nice size, and I love how the pattern looks all worked up in this yarn.  I think it’s going to look even more fabulous when I’ve blocked it out.IMG_2611

Other good news: The border is looking good.  I love the way the faux-cable ends so crisply and the border takes over.

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Still more good news: I really enjoyed the stretchy bind-off the pattern calls for.  It looks a bit messy now, but I think it’ll block up like a dream.  I’m going to keep it in mind for future projects.

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And here’s the bad news:  I totally lost at yarn chicken.  And, since this is the only skein I have of this yarn, I can’t just grab a couple yards of yarn from somewhere else.  So I’ve got two options:  undo the bind-off and the last couple rows and re-knit an even narrower border. (The border is already more narrow than called for in the pattern because I procrastinated starting the border in the first place.)  Or, I can rip all the way back to the body of the shawl, remove the last faux-cable repeat, and start the whole border earlier, make it wider and (hopefully) not run out of yarn before I’m ready.  I’m not super stoked about either choice.

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What would you do?

Triangles

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It’s been a while since I did a triangle shawl, and I forgot one very important thing about them.

They’re triangles.

I realize this seems obvious; it’s right there in the name.  But it’s one thing to pick out a project and another to actually knit it up.

The thing about triangles is that they start out skinny, then get wider and wider as you go.  (Again, very obvious.)  So, when I started this shawl two weeks ago, it was a breeze!  I flew through the first 5 charts!  It was knitting up so fast, and I was having such fun with the project.  IMG_2585

Then, the inherent triangle-ness took over and the rows slowly became longer and longer, and the shawl started feeling like it was slowing down.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like it.  It’s a very satisfying pattern, and the contrasting lace panels are fun to work.  But it’s getting to be slow going.IMG_2590

Also, I’ve been trying to see how many repeats I can do before I have to start the wide band of edging.  I’ve got more yarn than the Small size calls for, but less than the Large, so it’s kind of a guessing game.  I swear I’ve said “OK, I’ll work one more repeat, then I’ll start the edging” maybe 6 times at this point.  I really like this yarn and want to use every last bit, but I also have very little interest in losing yarn chicken and having to rip it out again.

Maybe I’ll do one more repeat, then I’ll start the edging…