Still Working on My Summer Shawl

 I have got to love my long time knitting friends. When I complained today that my current shawl project was taking much too long to finish.  I am on the third section of four sections. Today they gently pointed out that if I am using lace weight yarn with U.S. size 4 or 2.5mm knitting needles it is going to take forever.  Below is my current progress on the shawl.  The pattern is 2 of 3 A Shawl Study, one of my knitting patterns, using 2 skeins of  Zooey by Juniper Moon Farm.  I divided each skein in approximately half.  It is a cotton / linen blend.  The yardage is approximately 568 yards for both skeins together. 

You might notice that I did not use the yarn called for in the pattern.  I always like encourage people to use what ever yarn they like. All you have to do is use the knitting needles that the yarn calls for.  Then follow the pattern. The size of the finished project and the gauge will not match the pattern, but that’s ok it’s your creation. 

The pattern 2 of 3 A Shawl Study by Sheri Karobonik Designs is available on Ravelry.com, Love Knitting.com or your local yarn store.  If you buy my pattern, I will get a share of the purchase price.  

The Poncho That Was Not Meant To Be

 About a decade ago I had decided to start an open work summer poncho.  I bought the required number of Juniper Moon Farms Zooey, a linen and cotton blend yarn.  I even bought a few extras just in case.  I was making it a little larger than the pattern. The calculations for making it a bit bigger worked out perfectly to the point other knitters used them and their ponchos came out perfect.  

I am not the best at knitting open weave knitting under the best of circumstances.  Theses were not the best of times for me.  Eric was in and out of the club which was code word in our house for the hospital.  He was also home sick an awful lot too.  This was not a sick room project like my pattern Count 1-2-3-4 was.  Count 1-2-3-4 was mainly knit in Eric’s sick room, the emergency room and Eric’s hospital room.  It was a simple one row pattern.  This was a pattern knit over many rows with many weird repeats. I was distracted and sometimes forgot to write what row I was on.  It was ripped out more times than I can remember.  

Then there was a nursing student from the University of Arizona School of Nursing that was stressed out over her finial exams.  Commented how pretty the yarn was.  I told her where to buy it. She said it did not fit in her budget as a student. When I left my knitting at the table to hold my seat she helped herself to a couple of skeins of the yarn.  She and the yarn were gone when I returned. That left me scrambling to find a couple skeins in the same dye lot and color.  

I restarted it after Eric died. I ripped out the whole thing.  Then started over. I lost my place yet again.  Then put it into the closet.   Last night I had an epiphany and decided that this needed to be a woven shawl. So today I am empty in the bag. Ripping out the shawl yet again.  Finding the odd balls of linen yarn and putting it in the queue to be woven.  

I have no regrets on giving up on this pattern.  In fact I feel very relieved. The yarn will be put to good use.  I will no longer torture myself with open weave knitting.  If I don’t like how it turns out I can either gift it or sell it.  I am free of the weight of trying to knit that darn poncho.