January One

Thanks all for your comments yesterday on my blocking shots! I used blocking wires I got from Knitpicks along the top and down the center. There was a question as why I did it down the center. I’m not sure – because I saw Anne do it in one of her blocking shots? It gave some stability to the blocking? I don’t know for sure, but I’ll do it again.

There probably won’t be true FO pictures (in the form of a photoshoot with me and the shawl) for a while yet, but I thought I’d throw you a few pictures and some of my impressions of the project while they’re fresh in my mind.

The first and biggest thing to tell you is that it didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s the truth. And it’s not the fault of the pattern or the yarn or anyone really but me. And Wendy, I guess, because she knit what I thought was the ideal version.

When I was looking for a new shawl, I stumbled upon Wendy’s Moth and fell in love! Look at those CORONAS! I’m not sure what she did to get those, but clearly I didn’t do it!

When it came time for me to bind off, I remembered that Wendy had wrote she had gone up a couple of needle sizes because the pattern said bind off very loosely and she usually binds off pretty tight. I’m the same way – I bind off VERY tight, so I went up to size 8 needles and started to bind off. (I knit the shawl with size 6s.) It was evident pretty early on that my bind off wasn’t loose at all. So I went up to 9s and it seemed okay and I bound off and if you’ve ever bound off like 500+ stitches when I was done I wasn’t going to do it again, tight or not tight.

I knew right away when I started blocking it that it wasn’t going to work the way I had wanted. And I won’t lie to you – I was disappointed. I had a vision and this wasn’t the vision. The whole time I was knitting the shawl I could see how it was going to look. All pinned out it was a bit smaller than I had hoped as well. I got the 36″ the pattern called for in the length from top to point (and I would’ve liked it go a bit deeper) and I lost about 10″ on the span – mine only goes to about 74″ and the pattern calls for 84″. I also didn’t get much of a point at the bottom – not sure why?

Now, of course, I COULD rip out the bind off and redo it and reblock the whole thing.

Another new thing for me with this shawl? I’ve never knit lace with lace weight yarn. I’ve always used a fingering weight – even sport weight. I’m used to a SUBSTANTIAL shawl. You feel it when it sits on your shoulders. This shawl is so delicate and light and it wasn’t what I was used to. Don’t get me wrong – I love the yarn! I loved working with it, I love the color of it, and I think it’s perfect for the shawl. I will absolutely use this yarn again. But it’s something I have to get used to.

Through this project, I’ve discovered that knitting is more like writing than I thought. When you write, nothing ever turns out the way you envision it in your brain. The words take a different turn, the characters build lives of their own; a story, when it works, becomes what it needs to be DESPITE the writer. One of the things that attracted me to knitting was that you COULD get what you’d envisioned! You could MAKE it be what you wanted it to be. This morning, as I threw my new shawl over my shoulders and felt the delicate softness of the lace, I realized that knits have a mind of their own as well. And that it’s perfectly okay with me.

Back in the day, when Georgie and I first moved in together, oh some sixteen years ago, PBS was reshowing the absolutely fabulous I, Claudius. We would watch it all the time. One of our favorite parts is when John Rhys-Davies comes out and says that John Hurt, as Caligula, has undergone a META-MOR-PHO-SIS. You have to hear G say it to really appreciate it.

There’s a bit of metamorphosis going on in my life and I can imagine that while you’re snuggled up in that cocoon waiting to become a butterfly you feel like everything is changing but nothing is changing. You want things to be different, but they really aren’t. And then they are.

I want to reassure you that all the things I can’t talk about are good things. Potentially very good things. No one is sick. Everyone is good. Georgie and I have never been better. My business has never been better. (In fact, I should be working not blogging.) A tremendous weight has been lifted from me, and honestly, I feel like I could fly. If only my feet were wings.

What’s a girl to do when she wants to fly but can’t? She knits.

Saturday and Sunday I knit without stopping. At least it seemed like that the last four rows of Moth. It’s done. Off the needles. I was going to block it today, but life interrupted once again, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Everything about this project has been fabulous: the needles, the yarn, and especially the pattern. I’m almost sorry to block it, because that means it’s over. Thank god my next shawl is only a week away!

Be back tomorrow with a new pair of Monkeys. See? The more things change, the more they stay the same. 😉