When I first saw this pattern, I didn’t think it was anything special. I mean, it was pretty, but there are a lot of pretty lace patterns out there. I clicked away from it and forgot about it for a day.

But then I kept thinking of it. I kept thinking of the gorgeous green yarn I have, about how it made me think of the rolling mountains and hills of my home, Pennsylvania. I grew up just south of Pittsburgh. Mountains should be green and covered with trees in my world. I kept wanting to find something perfect for my Neighborhood yarn, and the more I thought about this pattern, the more the yarn seemed to fit it. I kept looking at the way it had turned out for other people who had worked with fuzzy yarns, and it seemed perfect.

This is my homage to my Pittsburgh mountain views, the winding curves that I love driving my car up and down. This is my mountain shawl.

5/10/09 - Today I had one of those startling realizations. I had completed the 3 reps of Chart 1 and was moving very quickly through Chart 2, plus I had just used up my first full skein of yarn - always exciting. So I started thinking, “Wow, I must be most of the way done! I can mark my progress as at least 40%, I bet!” Then I started reading through the directions and discovered the 11 reps of the last two charts….yeah, maybe not so much that close to being finished. That’s okay though - I’m more than a little in love with this project today.