I should apologize to my faithful readers. Both of them. I have been a very neglectful blogger. Busy, work, kids, blah, blah, blah.
But my needles and knitting juices have not been idle. Quite the contrary. I found myself all alone at Knittervention. I had arranged a sitter, and was determined to enjoy myself. I ended up finished and binding off my Mother's scarf. A Christmas present finally finished in June. Now there is something to be proud of, right?
My Annis Shawlette is blocked, and I have learned to charmingly drape it around my neck. Just in time for the 80 degree weather. May was more like July in Indiana, certainly not shawl weather, not even a small one. I stubbornly wore it a couple times, then carefully folded it away until autumn. Or a freak cold snap in July right after I finish a cotton/linen tank top. Such is my luck.
I have been knitting quite a bit on the place-mat. The pattern is nice. Easy, but just enough to keep me interested. I am looking forward to having these place-mats in my kitchen. Then I realize that I currently have eight place-mats. There are only four diners in my family, but two of them are still dodgy about their fork abilities, so the place-mats are constantly in the laundry rotation.
That is a lot of place-mats to knit. What have I gotten myself into?
Lastly, since realizing that the Jane Eyre Shawl won't work with my pretty sage mohair, I have returned to my original concept: a wrap with Celtic-inspired design. Of course, I searched Ravelry endlessly, and couldn't find EXACTLY what I was thinking
anywhere. Making up my own pattern seemed incredibly ambitious. I mean, I am not an inexperienced knitter, but following a lace pattern with minimal screw ups is a far cry from creating one.
This weekend, I started cutting and pasting, almost literally. I took the central motif from one pattern, the border from another, then started cutting out the portions, leaving something close to what I had in mind.
Then started the math. How many stitches wide? How many rows tall? I had to balance the border repeat with the central motif and desired overall size. Each time I thought I had the math cornered, I reviewed it one last time, and found one more thing I had missed. Over and over, until I started coming up with the same numbers, repeatedly. The planning was infuriating, but every time I caught another omission, I reminded myself that it was far better to catch it now, rather than with my tears staining the mohair.
I just hope that I haven't forgotten anything.
Today, it is all about planning the math.