Monday, March 10, 2008

Kill me, but make me beautiful

Saturday night, after Knit Knights (Knights who say “knit”?) I cast on the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. I’m using the Dream in Color Baby, which seems to be (thus far) just as nice to work with as the Smooshy is. I’ll do a fair and balanced review once the shawl is done and blocked.

Back to the shawl. I’m not a big fan of triangular shawls (or any non-rectangular shawls, really), but this one looked cute and contemporary. I cast it on, and despite the slight weirdness at the beginning (it’s a structural thing, and written clearly, it’s just counter-intuitive), I was on FIRE!

I knit three and a half repeats of the main body chart on Saturday night. I didn’t get to bed until close to 1 AM (or 2 AM, if you remembered to turn your clocks forward, which we didn’t). By Sunday night I was through five and a half repeats. Out of eight, plus the edging.

The one change I made (five repeats in, of course) is the double decrease that the designer has chosen. I think the way she suggests it looks a little messy, so I’ve replaced the S2KP to a S2KP2. I’ll save you a searching step:

  • S2KP2: Slip 2 sts as if you were going to K2tog. K 1 st, pass 2 slipped sts over.

It makes a beautiful, centered double decrease, which follows the lines of the lace. It is one of my favorite decreases because of how tidy it is.

Other than that, I’ve cast Muir on, and it’s a little unwieldy for travel knitting, so I’m going to be working on a Jane Sowerby shawl (with a repeating and simple motif) as my public lace knitting. It’s not that Muir is all that involved, it’s just that the chart is a little large, and I could shrink it down, but then I wouldn’t be able to see it, and squinting is SO not my look for this season.

I know I’m suffering from knitting bravado, but I think if I buckle down, I can finish the knitting on the Shetland Triangle by the weekend, and have the shawl dried and blocked by Monday.

I’m also insanely compelled to add beads to the edging, despite the fact that adding beads increases the finishing time by a factor of one million. Or ten. But still, it takes a disproportionate amount of time.

There’s a saying in Farsi, “Kill me, but make me beautiful.”

That's about right.

1 comment:

  1. Spring is officially here, and I have proof. Everyone is casting on lace shawls! Which Jane Sowerby shawl are you working on? I started the Large Rectangle in Spider Net this weekend. Nearly-mindless public lace, hurrah!

    ReplyDelete

If you'd like me to respond, please make sure to put your email address in the field. :)