To Knit or to Un-Knit ...

Am I knitting or un-knitting?



I'm un-knitting ... again. I got all the way to the last chart and just at the beginning of the row was off by one stitch (I knit 1 too many at the very beginning) ... and thought everything was just a little off the entire way, but this is a new chart and things are changing, there's no more center stitch ... maybe is supposed to look like this ... that little voice inside my head told me. I think I was a little too excited to be so near the end that I went a little bonkers ...

It probably also didn't help that it was about 1 AM ... so here I am the next morning, un-knitting. All the way back to where that arrow is ...



I was surprised to find a few spots I had to cut out considering this is such a small skein (and quite expensive). There was a knot and a really slubby spot that I cut out. Where the knot was I ended up un-weaving the ends when I blocked it. It was showing up too much (I tend to overkill and weave in over several stitches).



I didn't think I would have any yarn left over ... certainly not 10 grams! I specifically chose this pattern because I had a skein of Buffalo Gold that was the exact yardage for the small size. I know sometimes patterns refer to the amount in the skein and that doesn't necessarily mean that's how much you will use.



This is the rumpled mess before washing and blocking ... though it felt good to have bound off all those stitches!



I soaked it in Kookaburra. I hadn't used this product before, it smells so good! I hope the shawl retians some of the scent. I haven't blocked lace before, so it took a while for me to get it pinned out well. I'm still fussing with it a little here and there hours later.



This is definitely a pattern I would knit again. Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. The charts are easy to follow and the written instructions are very clear (I referred to them to make sure I had the right number of stitches at the end of the row - seeing "8 stitches before centre stitch" as opposed to counting them on the chart made me feel much more confident that I was on the right track).

I learned a lot about lace knitting this and err, ummm un-knitting it. A good portion of my weekend was spent on knitting this and watching old episodes of Andromeda. I took breaks to clean the house and grocery shop :o)

I am still waiting for the yarn I ordered for the In Dreams mystery shawl. Clue 2 will be out this Friday, so I'm thinking that next weekend there will be a lot of knitting again ... hopefully I have the yarn by then.