The Mystery Shawl. I intended to write about this shawl before, but due to essays and presentations, my time really has not been mine. Anyhow, the shawl is huge! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I finished clue 1; with still three clues to go the thing was already a lot bigger than I had expected. This made it quite difficult to photograph. On these pictures I have four 80 cm needles in the shawl and I still can’t fully stretch it. The space to fully photograph it was a bit difficult to find as well. Lace shawl knitters, you have my sympathy (and awe!).
In the photo’s I’m still working on clue 3, I was able to finish it yesterday and today I hope to make a headstart with clue 4, before uni insanity begins again. I have used all three colours already and am pleased with how it looks, it resonates more of a spring like feeling than autumn, but oh well. The shawl needs to be properly blocked, with the holes and everything, I think this will make quite a difference (Good heavens, it will grow even more! )
I found clue 1 took me a lot longer than clue 2 and 3, while I was much busier during this time.
| Errr….. Hello again!
So, a few weeks have past, and I have good news and bad news. As this is not social media, I have no way of asking you which one you’d like to hear first, so I’m going to start with the bad: Clue 4 has arrived, and I’m nowhere near completing Clue 1. The good news, though? I’m still knitting! It’s not the easiest project to start knitting with, or so I tell myself. There’s this part in every two rows that includes yarn-overs and then knitting one purl & one stitch in every yarn-over the next row. Especially in the beginning this got extremely confusing, as I slipped stitches or lost count. The rows grew exponentially. Now, a little further on, it starts getting easier. The work as a whole is more ‘sturdy’ and the increase relative to the lenght of the rows very small. The thing is, I notice how this made a huge difference in the way and why of knitting between Nisse and myself. Not just in respect to speed and quality: Nisse knits to relax, but for me knitting almost is like a sport: knitting a few rows requires concentration, focus and effort. When I come back from work after a long day, the last thing I want is something that requires effort. So, mostly I’ve knitted in the weekends, and at those times, I did actually enjoy it. At any rate, it seems it’s going to take a while to finish this project, far more then the projected number of weeks of the KAL, but this was expected. It reminds my, in a way, of when I as a little kid read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time: the first time took me months, close to or over half a year even, but afterwards I immedeatly started reading it anew, and finished it in a month. I’ve been an addicted LOTR-fan ever since. I wonder if the same goes for knitting? |
So yeah…he’s still knitting and still enjoys doing it. I think for a non-knitter there is no shame in not having finished clue 1. I’m quite proud that he actually persists and wants to finish it, even though it will take him longer than the four weeks given for the mystery KAL. It does make me think about back when I was still a beginner, and the difficulties I had when I made my first wobbly scarf back in the winter of 2006. Gosh…we’ve come a long way since then.
I’m quite enjoining myself with this KAL. Normally with KAL I become quite bored with the project before we even started. There is just something with the whole…time perspective and “have to” feeling that I apparently rebel under. I need the freedom of doing whatever I want whenever I want to do it. Therefore I normally refrain from KAL, both for my and my fellow KAL-ers sake. There is just no fun in ploughing though for weeks on a project while you actually have no joy doing it. What can I say some people thrive under KAL, but I am not one of those people. With this KAL it was different. I think the mystery of it all did that. Working each clue and having to knit it all up to reveal which direction it will go.
If all goes well I will be able to finish the shawl this week, with a little luck before the weekend so I can go back to my beloved sweater knitting. If anything this knit along made me insanely inspired to start new projects. I’m extremely stern for myself and I need to finish at least one project before I start the next. But I’m itching to finish this one to start the next.
Wow! For both of you knitting. I even can relate to the lotR thing. So true!
Good thing you switched to a smaller needle right? Otherwise it would have been even larger!
O wow, You made quite a bit of progress since I last saw this shawl. Well done! I like these colors together as well.
Awh thanks! Yes I'm definitely glad I switched to a smaller needle size.
I'm super close to finishing it now, but I'm kind of dreading the bind off. I need to picot bind off like a gazillion of stitches. Pray for me! 😉