05-23-2017

first time doing QUITE A FEW things - circular shawls, circular cast-on, the bananas INC 7 - DEC 4 stitch, knitting a border on live stitches - it’s a real learning experience!! i’ve coveted this shawl for a long time so here we go!

05-23-2017

thought i was losing my darn mind at row 13 of chart 1 until i found this incredibly helpful comment from the original KAL: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/lord-of-the-rings-project/... thanks marielle6!!!

05-24-2017

finished with chart 1! i don’t have high hopes of keeping up this momentum throughout the project (oh my poor hands) but i love it so far

missed a handful of y/os in the lace chart (i’m TERRIBLE at remembering to do them at the end of a round) but was able to fix them up on the next round and my beautiful baby looks none the worse for wear. i really can’t wait until blocking so i can open this bad boy up!!!

05-24-2017

in the middle of chart 2. i’ve owned this pattern for quite a while (and had my eye on it before i bought it), but i was a huge weiner about starting it, largely because of the occasional dancing markers. i needn’t have worried!! they’re an extra thing to be mindful of, but the pattern makes it very clear when it should happen, and it’s obvious in the work as well

the pattern isn’t overly complex - it’s just HUGE, and requires some focus and patience

05-26-2017

added a lifeline on row 20 of chart 2

05-28-2017

in the past, instead of using interstitial markers for lace repeats, i have just brazened it out and made a lot of ugly mistakes and i can’t BELIEVE my hubris. markers for every repeat is so helpful and even with all the shifting they do in this pattern they’re so worth it. i can never go back!!

06-01-2017

a few days of slow going bc i was a big knucklehead and didn’t give my wrists/hands enough rest and had a bad carpal tunnel flareup!! finished with chart 2, OH BOY does this thing get huge after that last increase round!!

06-01-2017

added a second lifeline in round 59 between charts 2 and 3

06-05-2017

please don’t make me do this much ribbing in a lace shawl, i’m dying

06-23-2017

i’m so COTTONPICKIN CLOSE to being done with the ribbing, someone save me

07-02-2017

FINALLY back to a point where the even rounds are straight knit, i have no idea how i survived this long (is it possible that i DIDN’T and i am a GHOST and this shawl is my UNFINISHED BUSINESS???)

07-05-2017

switched to my third ball of yarn during round 59 of chart 3

07-06-2017

conquered chart 3 and onto the border! i’ve never done an applied border on live stitches, i’m Very Nervous :x

07-07-2017

i spent HOURS last night struggling with the two parts of the border i have no experience with - provisional cast-on, and knitting an applied border. i didn’t feel confident in my cast-on, and my border was a total mess

this new technique for the provisional cast-on by verypinkknits saved my life - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OGG0AiJ3XE it’s so secure!

then it turned out i had cast-on my new stitches onto the wrong needle, so my work on the border was backwards -_- luckily figured that out after just a few rows, so i pulled my border out, cast-on with the NON-working needle, and started for what seemed like the millionth time

now i’m moving along like gangbusters! this shawl has definitely been a learning experience

07-08-2017

i’ll update this note with number of times through the border lace repeat i get through each day, for my own recordkeeping

7/7 - 4
7/8 - 6
7/9 - 3
7/10 - 0! long long work day
7/11 - 8
7/12 - 5
7/13 - 5 (over half done!!!)
7/14 - 5
7/15 - 0! played dnd all day B)
7/16 - 3
7/17 - 0!
7/18 - 2
7/19 - 6
7/20 - 9

07-11-2017

i’d seen some other people mention that the border took as much time as the entire rest of the shawl, and i couldn’t make sense of that mathwise! so i threw together a spreadsheet comparing what percentage of the whole shawl each chart makes up, going by number of stitches. the border is about 25% of the piece, and chart 3 is almost HALF, which i absolutely believe because it nearly KILLED ME

07-20-2017

DONE!! :D :D

07-20-2017

ok, my kitchener stitch was a bit of a mess (had a HECK of a time picking up my stitches from the provisional cast-on and i didn’t do it evenly) and the border has 2 or 3 uncalled-for holes but i DID IT. these beautiful beast is a testament to focus and patience and having nothing better to do while watching old episodes of mst3k. i love it