October 22, 2013 ~ Time Turner Shawl

Lace

Before I started the girls hats and mittens (Yes!  There are mittens now!) I knit a lace shawl.  Yes.  A lace shawl.  With really thin yarn.  It had actually started as a crochet shawl, but though I loved the pattern, I wasn’t happy.  I frogged the crochet and swapped over to some knitting needles.  Thanks to Ravelry, I was able to find an easy enough lace pattern.  One that I was capable of doing.

A friend and I started the Time Turner Shawl at just about the same time.  That gave me confidence!  We’d be going through it together, I’d have someone to ask questions of, bemoan the tricky bits.  The beginning was easy enough. once I figured out how to pick up stitches down the side to start the triangle shape.

Stitch markers and a pink lifeline

I restarted a few times, learned that I needed to use a lifeline and was also incapable of counting to six with any accuracy more than twice.  Stitch markers were a lifesaver.  Every 12 or so stitches, I’d put a new marker.  At the start of every 8 row pattern repeat, I’d place my lifeline.  I would still get lost in the pattern, so a friend suggested writing the piece of pattern I was doing onto an index card. Looking only at that.  This, with the lifeline and stitch markers got me through.

Mostly.

There are still mistakes.  I had to use that lifeline more times than I’d like to admit, but I did it!  All in all, a frustrating, fun, and learning experience.  I couldn’t work on it when I was tired.  Or distracted.  But that was ok, I worked on the Big Button Wrap when I couldn’t think enough to do the shawl.  Working on it start-stop like that, it took almost two months to finish.

In progress

While doing this I added a few skills and tricks to my bag – slip, slip, knit (SSK) and make 1  (M1), stretchy cast-off.  A bit more of how stitches stack up and work together. I thought, since I was knitting right to left, that I needed to swap my decreases, so anytime I saw SSK or K2tog I would swap them. (I’ve since learned differently.  Go figure).

Anyway, it was great to finally finish this shawl.  But the work wasn’t quite done once it was off the needles.  I still needed to block it.  I pulled out the blocking wire kit, prepped the table while the shawl soaked in the sink.  Then I rolled it in a towel and pushed the water out.  You’re not supposed to let the work stretch out with the weight of the water, or twist it dry.

On the wires

Getting the shawl onto the wires wasn’t difficult, but was a bit awkward.  Watching the lace open up as I pinned it out on the table was amazing.  And rewarding.  It felt really good to see my work go from nice to airy and beautiful.  I  was really proud of my work.  And maybe took a few too many pictures…

Lace detail

Edge detail

Open lace

I gave this shawl to my god-mother. My aunt.  She couldn’t believe I had done it.  The last time I had seen her, I was only crocheting.  I got a phone call thanking me, and also a lovely card.  She took it with her on her trip to Paris.  I love that my work made her so happy.  That makes me happy, and makes all the effort worth it.

Advertisement

---