Friday, April 18, 2008

And I Didn't Even Stay Up Very Late

I was a very speedy knitter at lunch yesterday, and decided that being done by this morning was totally do-able. And it was, see?



Not that you can really see anything! I need to remember that my camera screen is much brighter than a monitor (at least, than my monitor at work, which I'm lucky displays color), because when I looked at this picture on my camera, I turned down the flash! And the rest of the pictures are completely unusable as a consequence.

But I did finish it last night at midnight, even through the last hour or so was very slow going... the knitting went fine, but I got this idea that I could look for a spring cardigan pattern on Ravelry at the same time, and it turns out that overall progress is slowed when the knitter is also looking at a screen (I need to look when I knit lace, don't you?), and using her hands to mouse (pesky non-automated knitting needles!). I mostly avoided catastrophe, although slightly earlier in the evening I'd had to knit, tink, and reknit half a row (once the rows were a manageable 120 stitches... I would have been very cranky if they'd been longer) four times because I suddenly forgot the pattern. Which I'd knit 12 times, and by that time had only 2 "real" rows every 8. Argh!

It's blocking now, and I'm faced with a new dilemma. I definitely have enough yarn for the border on the long edge (to review, I'd assumed I wouldn't, since I started with a bit less yarn than the pattern called for, and my early knitting progress vs. yarn used calculations weren't very promising). It's a knitted-on border, kind of leaf-y, about 16 stitches wide--and I can't decide if I want to do it or not. (Don't worry Annie--I won't try to do it by tomorrow! But maybe next weekend.)

I have this idea that I hate knitting knitted-on borders (I think it's based on my actual hatred of I-cord), and as a result, I've only knit them twice, and both were very short (I think one border was 6 inches and the other 18). I didn't hate them, but this one is much longer. I don't have the directions in front of me, but I think they start "pick up 238 stitches along long edge of triangle," or something similarly dispiriting.

But maybe I don't actually hate knitting knitted-on borders--I was sure I hated colorwork, but then I didn't. In this case though, I'm also not sure I want a fancy border along the upper edge of the shawl--that edge tends to get very squished, and maybe it would just make me sad because it wouldn't stay blocked?

It's a quandary! Try to live with the suspense and I'll report back after I wear the shawl a bit.

3 comments:

bookwoman said...

It looks absolutely lovely in its blocking state. How big is the final product?

Sunflowerfairy said...

It looks good. Really good.

Have fun today.

BUY ME SOMETHING GOOD!!

(Just kidding)

Cindy G said...

Beautiful. Wonderful color. (For some reason, I think knitting on edgings is really fun, but I have no idea why that is.)