Thursday, May 24, 2012

Could it be that easy?

I tested my guage on my new  mystery project, and it appears to be twice as many stitches as the worsted/bulky weight pattern that I am modifying.  Doesn't that just mean I double everything in the instructions? 

That would be much easier.  That means I only have to change the actual design changes, and don't have to worry too much about the changes because of yarn weight. 

That sounds too easy.  I am sure there is a mathmatics explosion ticking away somewhere in my logic. 

My sweetie has only a vague understanding of knitting (and cares even less about it, but he loves me so he feigns minimal interest,)  but he does recognize yarns, so he can recognize various works in progress.  Last night, when he saw me casting on with silver yarn, he asked "What happened to the. . . .?"  Me: "The shawl.  The shawl is dead to me.  We do not speak of the shawl." 

At his look of dismay, I reassured him that I was not completely abandoning the shawl.  I was just taking a break. 

After all, I have already put a good forty hours in the ruffle alone.  It looks beautiful, or will when it is completed.  I will be back to it, and probably soon. 

Today, it is all about the admiration for sweeties who can't remember the word "shawl", but know what one is supposed to look like. 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A. B. S.

Anything But Shawl

After another month of dutifully knitting exclusively on the endless ruffle.  I have made almost significant progress.  One ball down, another ball halfway down.  A mere inch completed of the ruffle.  Last night, I knit for 2 1/2 hours, and completed 2/3 of a row.  On June 15th, I will celebrate the first (and God willing, only) anniversary of working on the Duchess shawl. 

So this morning, it happened:  I cracked.  I simply could not face another day knitting on the same ol' ruffle.  I couldn't even face the idea of knitting on the briefcase-appropriate sock in progress. 

I HAD to start something completely new. 

I considered the Swirl Skirt, since my sweetie bought the yarn for me as a birthday present.  Then I saw that it called for Size 5 needles.  The ruffle has size 5 needles.  That correlation alone made me immediately reject that project.  Plus, I am NOT going to buy ANOTHER size 5 circular needle because I was impatient one morning. 

So instead, I pulled out some prety dove gray yarn that I bought years ago in Poland.  I haven't been able to locate the pattern that fits the image that I have in my head.  I found something close on Ravelry, but closer inspection showed that it was an unspecified modfied version of another pattern.  Sp I have to modify the modification, without knowing precisely what the modifications were.

Also, the original (and probably the modified version) were in worsted/bulky yarn.  My yarn is closer to fingering.  So not only am I modifying the modification, but I am doing it with significantly different yarn weight. 

So apparently, I am just going to wing it.  Unless I come to my senses while I am still swatching, and come crawling back to the shawl. 

Today, it is all about the senseless. 

(P.S.  I took pictures, but I am having, er, techinical difficulties.  The printer is looking at the memory chip, but the computer is playing hard to get.)