Shawling Along....

Hopes, I had them, of getting knitting done while I was recently traveling to the American Library Association Annual Conference. I wound three fresh skeins of yarn, picked out patterns with the assistance of Sibling-the-Elder, planned needles to take through airport security.

I apparently forgot my propensity to sleep on long flights. I rarely get even the "free" in flight beverage because I'm fast asleep and have no desire to be awoken for a can of orange juice. Usually I'm sleeping balancing a cup of coffee anyway--I do pretty well at that I have to say. But generally speaking 1-3 rows after take off and I'm out cold. So much knitting time lost to sleeping.

I have only ten rows left on the Rainbow Shawl and it's all lacey type rows, which meant it wasn't really conducive to traveling, being hauled to conference sessions, being dropped mid-row when I needed to do something.

I started with a "We're Different Okzident" skein of Wollmeise 100% superwash. It may not be the dyer's own exacting standards but I think it's lovely--it looks to me like all the colors one finds in a beautiful stream on a summer day: bright blue, dark blue, teal, green--it's muddled and I keep thinking I'll spot a turtle or a beautiful fish. Guess I know what kind of shawl pin I'll want to go with this when it's done.

Pattern selection was the Old Man of Storr Shawlette. I've only made one modification: the designer calls for a yarn over at the front/end of the WS rows on the lace portion--but she also has you increasing 4 stitches on the right side row of the lace portion-- one on either end and one in the middle. Only, the lace section only increases 4 stitches every 2 rows. I was adding 6 but only needed 4. I figured it out after the first couple of rows and just omitted the wrong side yarn overs, I don't think it'll be a problem.

The shawlette went lots of places in DC and was stared at by many people. I was working the garter/plain/body section so I didn't need to explain much about it, which was fine, but the wool was admired. And yes, I am aware I show a certain bit of craziness for taking wool to knit on in Washington DC, where it was hot, humid, sticky, etc--to the point that I didn't need a wrap for the evenings. I was in a lot of very air conditioned spaces also and I only own so much non-wool. 

I'm tooling right along on the lace portion and now that I have a sense of what I'm doing with it--that should go speedily. It's going to have to take back burner though for the next few days: I am volunteering/working at our major summer festival for the next four days for Kiwanis. That means I'll not be able to do anything much more than chug away at knitting.  Don't worry, I've cast on another shawlette. Or there's always that baby blanket (not wool/machine washable) that I need to finish. That baby is due in less than two months, I need to get hopping on it.