I’ve wanted to knit Corrin “a warm wrappy thing” for fall and winter for more than a year. As soon as I saw Angela’s newest shawl pattern, and realized that I know how to knit and crochet every stitch combination included within it, I tossed out the sweater designs and settled on the shawl.

August 3, 2011: I bought the pattern, wound the yarn, and casted on in an extra hour I found before work yesterda; the first photo was taken this morning, and the shawl will be double that size by bedtime tonight -- I can’t wait to write about it for today’s “WIP Wednesday” post!

August 12, 2011: After a solid week and a bit of knitting on the subway during my daily commutes, on the bus in and out of town for a weekend, while visiting with family upstate, and while relaxing after a long day of work, I’ve stitched 2,500 of the 25,000 stitches that make up this pattern. Whee! (Super thankful for my mathematician girlfriend who devised the algebra formula to calculate my progress, too.)

I made an unresolvable error with the first repeat of eyelet pattern, that resulted in having the wrong number of stitches on the needles at the start of the second stockinette repeat. A few clever “make 1” and “purl 2 together” combinations refitted the right number of stitches to either side of the center marker -- I’m so glad that making some of Laura Irwin’s boutique patterns taught me how to use those stitches as disguises -- and I’m ready to start the second eyelet lace section with the requisite 159 stitches on the needles. Here we go!

August 13, 2011: Amazing what happens when Corrin checks her work after sleeping. Suddenly I’ve knit 7,898 stitches of 31,592, and am 25% finished. :)

November 22, 2011: I haven’t touched this shawl in over a month, but every time I see these photos I’m reminded of how much I love it. I have two hats to finish this weekend, then I plan to spend a solid week working on the shawl.

December 18, 2011:I have been fiendishly knitting for the last ten days, and have just two lace repeats to go before the last stockinette section and the border. I’m hoping to have the shawl finished by New Year’s.

December 28, 2011: The lace is DONE. I am so glad; I love this shawl, but find slip-slip-knit stitches just hateful. Now for 9 rows of stockinette and a beautiful border…

February 27, 2012: The shawl blocked out beautifully yesterday; we pulled it off of the pins this morning, and Corrin is completely in love with it -- calls it her “Lissa hug”, which is just as I intended. I have a few ends to weave in, and we’ll take some outdoor photos this weekend!

I’m really pleased with the way this yarn worked up for the project, particularly how the color looks in the eyelet lace sections. The weight and twisted texture made for a sturdy shawl that’s not at all bulky -- just as I hoped. In terms of yardage, I needed about five yards from another skein to finish the border, after completing just two of the border repeats rather than three. I’m guessing that I used more yarn than necessary in the earliest section where I wound up with too many stitches, but still would have needed to modify the pattern a bit to make it work with less than 580 yards.

As a crochet-adapted continental knitter, I had a lot of problems keeping my tension consistent on the slip-slip-knit rows, because that stitch combination just feels so awkward to me. Apart from that, the pattern was a dream to knit up -- thank you so much, Angela!

03/05/12: Wove in the last of the ends tonight -- just those that I missed over the weekend. Now to head to the park during daylight hours for some photo magic….