I saw this shawl and was immediately captivated by its beauty. The designer, Jared, has such soul!

Over a series of days, I often found myself mooning over the pictures. Next, of course, and almost against my will, I ordered LACE weight yarn. It is good to be naive, no?

With no experience with lace knitting, coupled with many years of not knitting in general, I began in
earnest. How do I work a yo at the beginning of a row--scratching head..
Thanks to Jimmy Beans’ you tube tutorial I found out. Hey, where in double H~ELL did that YO go? Is that stitch part of the SSK, or is it the next stitch?
October 7/11 Knit, frog. I ended up ripping out 2
repeats. Frogging is such a drag…

A life line? “Eh, {Eliza Doolittle style} what’s that you say?” I ripped out about 8 rows and among the briars corrected my mistake. (And you thought there were no miracles.)

In short, ;-) after a lot of hand wringing and tribulation, I am edging my way into lace oblivion--I’ve completed 24 repeats. How long, I consistently ask myself, will this edging take, and then I remind myself of the beauty…

Undaunted, (fools do rush in), I am encouraged by the moderators gracious words that I read when I visited the KAL site, “YOU CAN DO THIS.” Now I ask you, who can argue with that piece of wisdom? What a lift. I feel almost weightless.

Oct 7/11 I ripped out 2 repeats. I just couldn’t figure out where I was, and the line was, you guessed it, 2 repeats further back.

Rip it, Rip it…biting lip. Now I ask you with tears in my eyes….

Another few days….I’ve completed 35 edging repeats which, is, of course, half way through. It is, however, definitely time for a break!

Oct 11/11 NINE more repeats and the edging will be complete.
A half twirl--nope, not complacent.
Someone throw me a lifeline!
Prophetic words, unfortunately.
Lost it all…yep ALL…Don’t ask. I won’t discuss it. (There are curious dark patches strewn about the floor. hmmm What could they be?)

Time elapse..hours or days. I can’t be sure. With squinting eyes, hunched shoulders, and furtive sideways glances I quietly cast on…It seems dark in here. Why even the geese, on the wing, overhead are quiet.

Moving along…
Now and then I count the side stitches and add a
safety pin stitch marker so that the stitches will be easier to count when the edging is complete. Ha--almost sounds professional, doesn’t it?

I’ve learned* that IF I make a mistake it is generally in the beginning stitches of a row, so I recheck the first four or five stitches. Also, it is easy to overlook YOs near the end of rows.
Did I mention that I hope the frog croaks?

Oct 21/2011 Easily picked up the edging stitches through the back loop-gorgeous- {blush} and about to start RI pattern. Treading lightly. Strung copious lifelines. Lifeline threading has snagged a few stitches - thread is not the answer. Left side of face twitching uncontrollably.

Oct 29. After frogging rows 1 and 2 many, many times, I am now on row 9 of RI chart. In a past life, I must have been that Greek chick,Penelope; she wove her shroud during the day and undid it
at night. Of course, Penelope had personal and political reasons for frogging, but could I, like her, be frogging for three years? Banish the thought, Goldilocks.

Quick zip back to garter stitches. It’s easy.
Added a few extra rows of garter stitch to give the overworked ripped out,tattered, almost beyond recognition, yarn a break. Is it my imagination, or are the needles bent?
The chart is much easier once you begin to see the pattern Trust me. It’s, I think, true.
Knit - Zip, so many stitches; the more to annoy you, my dear.
Third row. Yes!
Zipped row 4; stitches did not add up. Who’s counting?
For rows 1,3,5 etc.,- yep uneven rows- the right hand stitch before the marker for the middle stitch is used in the SK2p,for some reason, this confused me and I ripped out the rows, yet again. How quickly one forgets, or did I know this? Hissing sighs.

Renamed the project Alcatraz…

Look ma no lifelines…damn the torpedoes!;-)

More frogging and hand wringing….I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say, the misery index is high.

Nov 13th Began the last garter stitch section. CELEBRATION!!! The home stretch… Easy street. Wahaha and ha. Better check the calendar to make sure it is not Friday the 13th.

On the bright side, the pattern is well written. I ‘d love to make another one with extra lace panels.

**** Did I say that?

Nov 15th Finished-I don’t think it’s perfect, but I certainly learned a lot. I intend to wear it until it falls off my body. Further, should someone break in they can take everything but the SHAWL.

Well, to say the least, this project nearly got the best of me; besides the yardage and “the pound of flesh,” there’s several splintered fault lines running up my self-confidence. Of course, being able to laugh at myself and wear a great shawl makes it all worthwhile.

Yes, folks, I did it for the beauty.

Mono-filament illusion cord found in craft stores makes a great lifeline for tight knitters like me--just tape the ends.

Thanks to Beginning Lace Knitters’ group for great info on blocking, etc. See the newbie section.

TA DA… Imagine it. Believe it. See it!
Enjoy stitching….☺