To frog or not to frog
This is where I’m at with the Leaf Lace shawl: 12 repeats done, and the shawl is about 4 ft wide unstretched. The blob at the bottom is what I have left. I was nearly done, with half the border completed.
But here’s the problem. I don’t know how much I have left, and as the shawl is growing, I can’t tell how much yarn it will take per repeat. I did 12 repeats, and then thought I’ll play safe and do the border, even if I have some yarn left over. 9 rows of the border in I realise I had enough left for at least one more pattern repeat, if not two.
Now that little voice in the head that was quietly whispering - "are you sure you don’t want to stop the border right here, frog, and do another repeat? Think of what you’ll do with the leftover yarn, which you’ll be able to use neither in a sock nor a hat. It will sit there in the drawer and mock you for your laziness. It would have been simpler to do another repeat or two, and then frog if you didn’t have enough. Now look: all this work, and 10 rows frogged for nothing." - is getting louder and more insistent. Somehow continuing to knit the border in order to ignore it isn’t helping.
So I flung the thing into a corner, made some alu parathas for dinner, and then brought it back out and figured that if not display the completed shawl, at least I could complain blog about it.
So now qu’est-ce qu’on va faire? I just know it, there’s a sucker deep down somewhere inside me who’s going to force me to frog back to the last repeat, try out another repeat or two, and then do the border. I’m going to love the longer shawl in the end, because it’s already a little short and some more length will look good on it. Of course, if there isn’t enough yarn, I’ll still feel good about having tried.
Arrrrrrgh! When I came so close, too. How the heck does one figure out these yardage per row thingies for triangular shawls? I tried weighing this thing at the post office and it doesn’t mean a thing. It only got me weird looks from people. I wish I could tell how far this blob will go: one more repeat or two?
Ah well. Check back in a few days, hopefully I’ll have finished it, to let you know. I’ll also try to photograph it in the sun, to bring out the colours properly.
But in happier news, do check out Spudsayshi’s glorious Orenburg shawl, finally complete. It is one of the most beautiful lace projects ever. I have been following this project like a good groupie, and now I think I’ll have withdrawal symptoms like a cricket fan after the world cup is over.
Also, talking of gorgeous knitting links, surely all of you know about Brooklyn Tweed? It’s the latest blog I’ve discovered (although I’m sure folks have known about it for months), and some of his stuff, especially the Urban Aran cardigan.