Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Brandywine Shawl - Almost Finished

I didn't finish with the Olympics on Sunday. I finished the knitting last night. I'm waiting for the arrival of the blocking wires I ordered to block the shawl and call it done.

This knit is a story of woulda', shoulda', coulda' . . .


If I woulda' started knitting sooner, I woulda' finished before the Olympics end.  I completed the project in 7 days and won this cool Knitting Champion 2010 Gold Medal, courtesy of the Yarn Harlot



Brandywine ShawlI shoulda' known better than to park my knitting on the chair for a minute while I checked on something on the computer.  I was distracted for more than a minute and when I returned to my knitting, I found Johnny Be Good stretched out on top of it.  When I picked up the knitting it was curiously wet.  I discovered the Johnny had been chewing the circular knitting needle (probably) and gnowed through the knitting in a handful of places.  As I was ripping back to before the yarn breaks, I saw an opportunity to correct an early mistake and before long, my shawl project looked like this. Yes, I did.  I ripped out more than 100 rows and started over. Two days later, I had re-knit and caught up to where I was before that moment of carelessness.

I still probably coulda' finished before the closing ceremony if, when I was on the home stretch, I didn't decide to drop a few stitches in the lace band for a more than a few rows to try to fix another niggling mistake.  This pattern wasn't difficult and I didn't think I needed to consider using a lifeline, but if I had, I wouldn't have spent an entire evening playing with the dropped stitches and then, after I was unsuccessful, ripping out several 8 row repeats when I only a few to go. 

It's been a while since I picked up a pair of knitting needles . . . and I'm afraid it showed in my stumbles with this project. But it's done and I know that after it's blocked, I'll wear it a lot.

Brandywine Shawl

6 comments:

floribunda said...

Sophie, it's beautiful! Aren't you the brave one, to rip without a lifeline...

Debra Dixon said...

Just yummy! like sherbet!

Barbara C said...

Your shawl turned out beautifully, despite its significant adventures. It must feel good to have finished it.

lj_cox said...

Very pretty!

I had to laugh when you mentioned your cat woes; the pieces for the baby quilt I am working on were carefully laid out on the couch covered with a sheet when my tabby started playing on top. Next thing I know there goes a flash of pink and green.. The blocks had to be re-set, and one was misplaced until I could take the whole thing up and find it underneath.

Unknown said...

Hi Sophie,
Your shawl loks lovely, the color is great.
About the cat, my kitty never done something like that, but the kids...sometimes I think they don't like what I did and they ripe some rows to "help" me...
Manuela

Emily said...

So true, woulda, coulda, shoulda.... I love it! And yes, you will have a fabulous shawl--so worth it!

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