23.06.12 Testing the written instructions for the designer. Chart A complete.

Using two strands together of the yarn. The 3.25 mm needle seems so comfortable after the 0.60 mm hook on my other current project.

I love this colour better than the pink I bought with it. I try very hard to leap out of my comfort zone of neutrals and pastels, but it does not seem to be very effective therapy.

26.06.12 Finished one repeat of Chart B. Do not expect to hear from me again on this any time soon, as I will have to repeat the chart 4 more times.

13.07.12 See update above.

I left the piece on my table along with everything else I’m too lazy to put back in its correct place (scissors - gasp - CDs, other projects, etc., etc.), and when I came back to it I saw that I’d dropped a stitch or two in the edging. When I began unknitting to correct it, I discovered a nice, neat cut in the yarn a further few rows down. At which point I admitted defeat (I give up easily) and began the shawl from point zero once again.

The pictures now show me after 20 rows of the third repeat of Chart B. I did try to put in st markers to mark off the pattern repeats, but they moved too much or I am not clever enough to move them correctly, so I’m making do with just the edging markers.

I used the magic cast on from Knitty rather the provisional this time to save the grafting at the end.

I still love the colour and the texture. And now I am a little less dependent on the instructions as I kind of can see what happens next on each row as I work it.

20.07.12 I think the yarn is cursed. Every time I put down my project for any length of time and return, the yarn has snapped. Not cuts now, just torn/snapped. I didn’t think yarn had an expiry date :(

I’m close to finishing Chart C. And will try not to put the project down too often.

22.07.12 Used 155 beads after 3 repeats of Chart B. Toho 6/0 “E” orange transparent Darice with golden inner covering. 14 beads left over in the tube which was a gift from Mazhalai.

The shawl is soaking ahead of blocking. I hope the thing stays intact.

23.07.12 For obvious reasons I did not want to block the shawl too aggressively. Love the texture, colour and the knitting of it. It’s shawlette size, I suppose.