I spend at least one day a week with my Mom, who is by virtue of her severe arthritis, housebound. During my most recent visit, I told her of my need to start purging the disaster that is my crafting supplies, to reduce the amount/space by half. That I had found many yarns that were lovely, full of memories and still I managed to get rid of a lot. She was proud of me.
Then proceeded to say that she would love a "big comfy shawl" to wrap around herself. And that she wanted me to knit it.
Now, I'm the kind of crafter that has a hyperfixation on a craft, amassing all the necessary accessories, supplies, and patterns. Enough that I will be able to make/create with that craft for the next 200 years. This includes fibre arts. I have knit, crocheted, tatted, spun, stitched it all it seems.
I worked at a craft store for 5 years, with the proviso that I spend no more than 1/3 of my paycheck at that store. With my 30% discount, this resulted in a LOT of yarn. 5-6 BIG totes of yarn. But my fixation on fibre arts waned a great deal, to the point where I haven't cast on anything in about 4 years. I have occasionally picked up a mostly complete WIP (Work In Progress) to finish it and get it out of the house, but otherwise? Nope.
I warned my mother that it would probably be about 2 years before she saw this shawl, if I ever chose to knit it. She was fine with that, but in my mind, a plot was brewing. I would go through my current reduced stash, hunt on Ravelry and find a shawl to have ready for Christmas this year. I have 8 months to accomplish this task.
I have chosen a fingering weight, bamboo yarn, designed for baby clothes. It's soft and a neutral ecru, with pink and blue speckles. It took 3 days of combing through Ravelry, looking in my library online, and I found my pattern.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEdf16/PATTwingsfornightbird/PATTwingsfornightbird.php
Wings for Nighbird.
So far the saga started unsuccessfully last night with me casting on for the first row. This is a reverse pi shawl, which means that it starts big and gets smaller as you go. Which for me works out well, knowing that there will be an end in sight.
I cast on 293 stitches, knit the first row, started the chart for the lace, managed to get through to the end only to realize that I was 2 stitches short >.<
I started again, making sure that I had the correct number of stitches before I started the first knit row. Then the first pattern row, I lost my way a little over halfway to through. Since I had frogged (rip it, rip it) the project twice, the yarn was a mess. So I cut that part off, looked at the time, (3:30am) and went to bed. Ugh.
I start again tonight. Wish me luck.
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