or have too many diamonds. Or can you? I’d take a picture of the BDFS but it’s black and outside is gray. Very very gray. Which means even when I turn on all the lights in my house it’s still very dark. How is it that when it’s dark at 9AM it seems so much darker in the house than when it’s 9PM? I don’t understand, but it’s true.
Anyway, back to the shawl. All I did the entire weekend was knit this shawl. Really. I kid you not. Starting from Friday night (G had a work thing) all the way until about midnight this morning I knit this shawl. That’s a lot of black knitting on a pattern I practically memorized nine repeats ago. (I do still need to consult the chart at the beginning of each row.) And while it’s still a great pattern, it’s lace and that means I have to pay at least a little attention. Did I mention it’s black and that every eight or so rows I have to add beads which is becoming more and more tedious as the shawl goes on? At least I had good tv to keep me entertained. The King and I Friday night. West Side Story immediately followed up by Fiddler on the Roof on Saturday. Sunday I woke up and knit during the news shows and then took a small break for a visit with my in-laws for Easter. Excellent lamb by the way. Then it was home to watch Mean Girls (Heathers is just SO much better) and the Sunday night shows. May I digress for a minute? I may be a true romantic cornball at heart but OH MY GOD I’m loving the way The West Wing is ending the series. I know this makes me a nerd of gargantuan proportions but I *heart* Josh. I’m like a broken record but Donna and Josh are SO perfect together and last week when CJ got that big smile on her face because she’s doing it with Elliot from thirtysomething? How cute was our very own Claudia Jean? This is the way a series should end! Hook everyone up! Make everyone happy!
Back to the shawl. Here’s the sitch: ostensibly, I’m done. I’ve got like three rows left (yes that will probably take me three hours) but once I get to the end of the current repeat I’ve done my ten repeats. Which gives me 21 diamonds across the top. When I count the diamonds across the top of my previously finished DFS, I get 23 diamonds. I guess I did an extra repeat. Call me overzealous. Now I don’t know what to do – should I do the extra repeat on THIS shawl? Or just leave it? I hate that I can’t tell how big it’s really going to be, but it’s going to be pretty big given that I knit it with sportweight wool and I think it’s going to look really nice REALLY blocked because then they’ll be all the pretty empty space between the diamonds and the beads but I feel like if I don’t do the extra repeat I’ll know I didn’t do the extra repeat and that will niggle at me. Or will it? Because honestly I’m SICK of this thing and I don’t even want to go to the wedding because I’m REALLY fat and I ordered a perfect dress yesterday from Nordstrom’s but even though I ordered a fat size (for me) I bet you it will be too small and then I’ll be really upset even though I know this particular designer probably cuts her stuff really really tiny. I’ve got the yarn – that’s not an issue – but I know I’m going to have to break into the last skein, which in and of itself isn’t a big deal except that I’ve been having a lot of trouble winding up this yarn and currently that last skein is in a knotty heap on the floor in the living room. It’ll probably take me a whole day to untangle the mess. Which isn’t the best reason NOT to continue on, but I don’t know for a fact that I’ll have enough yarn in the skank I currently have working to finish the next repeat. Sigh. What would you do?
Thank you all so much for your comments on my handwriting post! It touches me that I was able to touch all of you. This ABC thing continues to inspire me – I’m so grateful to Anne for the brilliant idea! Thank you Anne!
PS : A friend just sent me a link to this very excellent (obviously European) commercial. Gotta love those Europeans!
Hey! Me tooooo …I L.O.V.E. the way that WW is ending..aren’t we the ol’ bleeding hearts or what??
I am sure your dress PLUS the gorgeous shawl will be just great on you…relax and enjoy it!
Go ahead – do another repeat – you know that you’ll regret it later if you don’t.
21 or 23!?! i am up to nine and already killing myself.
you know, I was going to say to continue on but then you mentioned the yarn being tangled….and that is such a deal breaker for me. there’s nothing I hate more than wasting my time untangling yarn, it feels like wasting your life away. so I vote on stopping and blocking.
Honestly, I’d quit now. I’m sure it will be plenty big and you won’t hate it anymore.
Quit while you’re ahead. It’s what the pattern calls for, so it’s not like you’re cheating.
If you are sick of it, stick a fork in it – you’re done. If you keep knitting when you are sick of a project, you’ll end up making some big honking mistake halfway through the next repeat and not catching it until you block. I know that most of my mistakes happen when I’m mentally done with a project. The lovely thing with lace, is that something like the DFS can be ended. With sweaters, they have to go into time-out until I can deal with them again ;>
It really sounds like you’re mentally done with the shawl and continuing it will continue to bring up these other issues. Finish it so that you can move on and hopefully have some fun at the actual event!
Can a shawl be too big?
Can you turn down the last repeat of your other shawl to see how big it is with just 21 diamonds? If it’s a decent width and lenth, I’d let it go. Tangled yarn is no fun. And wouldn’t it be nice to know each shawl is unique (ie. not the same size?)
Sport weight yarn will make a much bigger shawl and as it is might be just perfect. What will you do with the last skein, however? Would it be better to have it IN the shawl than anywhere else?
At least you stuck with it to this point which I wasn’t sure you would do. 😉
I definitely don’t think you should knit an extra repeat just because you knit an extra repeat before. It sounds like it’s going to be a good size if you knit it just to the pattern specifications, so I’d stop there. If it’s too big, then you’re going to be wrestling with it all night long.
So am I not the only 30something fan on the face of the earth? Gotta find some repeats of that show. I was so tickled to see CJ and Elliot get together on WW.
I say stop at 21, but that’s mostly because when I was working on the Dreaded Auction Shawl people kept saying “you need to make it [somewhere between 1 and 2 feet] longer” and I thought so too, but I ran out of time, and the pathetic scrap of a thing blocked to over 6 feet long and THANK GOD I didn’t make it any longer. It doesn’t have to be the same size as the first one, and you don’t want to knit “I can’t stand living with this for another minute” energy into anything you’re wearing to a wedding.
And, unless you’ve gained a minimum of 50 pounds since the closing ceremonies, you are so not fat.
I *heart* Josh too. I tell my husband that all the time. Last night, hubby called me away from the computer by saying “hey, Josh and Donna are about to hook up. Come on, hurry up or you’ll miss it!”
And I want to be CJ when I grow up. Or maybe I just want the WW writers to come script perfectly timed sarcastic remarks for me to use. Either way, CJ rocks.
I think you should finish after this repeat and be done with it. Too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing. And stop being so hard on yourself – you’ll look gorgeous and you have your handsome husband – so there.
Delurking to say…
Finally! Other people to talk to about WW!
I love Josh & Donna together and really wish I hadn’t missed the episode where they got together. I missed a couple of key episodes, actually. Regardless! I love them! And love CJ & Danny…and wonder, what happened with Will and Kate?
Came back to say I like the WW is heading, too. It’s cool that they brought back some of the past people and that our favs are getting it on;-)
It is very cool that CJ and Danny are going to take time off and enjoy the fruits of their hard work and get to know each other. It has been a great series.
I vote for stopping (before you throw it out the window). This may be a dumb questions, but if it realy starts to bother you that you didn’t do another repeat, can you pick up stitches or something and add in the next repeat? I hope we get to see the dress with the shawl! I’m sure you’ll be gorgeous!
Stop now! You are not sure if you have enough yarn for another full repeat, tangled or not. It would be awful to spend all of that time knitting it up, only to have to find one more skein of yarn, or to have to send the final repeat to the frog pond. Since it is sportweight, it may end up being larger than your first one in any event.
I’m probably a masochist. I’d go with another repeat just to use up the yarn! And if it’s not enough, at least I tried! 🙂
I’d stop if I were you, you can have two similar shawls instead of two almost identical shawls that way. And did you notice you typed “skank” instead of skein at the end? I think that’s your subconscious telling you you’re done! =)
Why don’t you put the live stitches on waste yarn and block it to size? If it is large enough (most likely) just bind off. If not, put the stitches back on the needles and add another repeat. I’m sure you will look fabulous – the pictures so far look great!
I have those same issues. If you know in your heart you’re done finish it off but if you’re unsure and you’re afraid you’ll always wonder about what could have been if you stuck it out for another repeat then move forward. Maybe one indecisive person shouldn’t be offering another indecisive person advice though.
what would I do?
probably have a piece of cake while I mulled it over.
and then that f-ing dress really wouldn’t fit.
goddammit I hate when I do that.
I heart Josh too!! And I was glad to see Sam back. Those two have always been my favorites.
Ooh, Anita — I agree. Yay Sam!
I loved when Josh walked into the boardroom and Sam walked to him and said “I thought you’d never call.” I always loved their friendship.
I would watch a good movie and attempt to unsnarl the skein. If it behaves knit on. If not, it wasn’t meant to be. Like if you love something….set it free… 🙂 Only yarn love. Or eat cake.
Quit. It will be just excellent.
WW is soooooo good right now it makes me really sad that in a few weeks it will be over forever. Waaaa!
i think i would quit too… not breaking into that last skien would be enough reason for me not to tho. i mean if you thought it might not be long enough or something, then i would continue on, but that would be the only reason i would.
hard… i’d say stop. What’s another inch or two? or Five? I haven’t watched the West Wing, glad it’s ending well! I’m too obsessed with 24 that I don’t have room for another show!
Wellll, you’ve gone this far. In for a penny in for a pound. Especially if it will drive you insane in the future.
Untangling yarn is fun.
Heathers! I love Heathers! I was just thinking I should watch that again.
And I am sooooooo jealous that you got to spend an entire weekend knitting.
As to your dilemma? I think if you like the size it is (can you pin it out to measure or something?), go with it like that. You’re sure to look lovely either way!
I was delighted to see Sam on WW…I was hoping he would be VP! And I loved that Santos and the pres are in cahoots!! We will definitely miss that show when it is over.. (we already have 5 boxes of DVDs)
After seven long years, it’s so mar-vee-lous to see Donna and Josh together! Do you think that they’ll come back from the vacation married? That’s what I’m hoping…
And the shawl will be gorgeous too!
Haven’t done a big honking shawl yet so I won’t weigh in on that one BUT I love the West Wing – I hate to see it go – but I know Josh is already signed on for another 1hour show this fall. Everything is falling into place and Santos would have been such great fun to watch as president.