me?? checking knitting books out both to support my library and to avoid paying per pattern??? it’s More Likely Than You’d Think
update:
VOLUME ACQUIRED!! specifically for the YOU SHAWL NOT PASS pattern (pictured bottom left of the cover!!), but i’m VERY stoked to flip through the rest of this, too
ANOTHER UPDATE:
YARN ACQUIRED!!! as soon as i saw Mothy and the Squid’s absolutely GORGEOUS “Inner Fire” yarn, i knew that was 100% what i needed for the Balrog-themed “You Shawl Not Pass,” and after a Slight Snafu about Shades of Black, my Much More Appropriately Saturated OPAL arrived today!! i am LOCKED and LOADED and PREPARED FOR SHAWLDOM!!
(i will absolutely not be starting this right away, i’ve got a blanket in the works and need to do some Little Projects For The Dopamine Of It All, but it is HERE and i COULD and THAT’S WHAT MATTERS!!)
SO IT HAS BEGUN:
so the cast on for this one STARTS at 162 stitches, and then we come out swinging with some UNHINGED EARLY EDGE INCREASES, but so far so good!! we’ll see how long it actually takes to Make This Thing Happen (it’s a christmas present so….)
made it past “cast on and setup”!! honestly loving the big long stretch of garter in the middle, because it turns it into a Social Project (read: i can chatter instead of having to count all the way across lol). so far, so good! onward to chevrons!
okay so i shoved this to the bottom of the stack to work up a [REDACTED] real quick and then most of my mom’s cowl, AND now it’s nano, HOWEVER!: i picked this up again this afternoon, got to a stitch notation in the pattern, had exactly this mood:
, googled the vexing stitch, found a youtube link in my search history, and all of a sudden DID recall so. that’s how this is going lmao
update!: have made it to the end of the section labeled “CHEVRONS” and now i am onto the section labeled “CONTINUE CHEVRONS” (in which she hits you with a “Read carefully through this section before beginning as multiple steps occur at the same time,” which has been making me low-key nervous since the first time i read through the pattern, because it looked Convoluted and Tricky).
fortunately! her instructions for the multiple simultaneous steps are just written unhingedly! it’s basically “keep working in the established pattern BUT make it bigger every 8 rows to account for the increases in said 8th row” lmao. i wrote myself out a handy cheat sheet so i have something to check off (because i’ve been putting check marks upon row completion but. ah. seventy-eight (78) more rows is. too many check marks, for the current printed pattern to withstand).
making good progress on the first ball of black yarn! theoretically i’ll use a second one, too, and then switch to the FLAMES. i’m so glad i’m not speedrunning this all in december lmao
made it to the end of the first ball of yarn!! she is. Growing Up.
i could switch to a bigger cable to see her better but i don’t wanna
anyway! just finished the fifth “CONTINUE CHEVRONS” repeat (what timing!!), so there’s only four and a half left before the contrast color switch. very interested to see how much of the second ball of black yarn i need for this–i’m already going through a lot per row, but there’s also only four and a half repeats of the pattern with the contrast color, and that allegedly will use one ball or less also. so! hoping to have some extra black at the end, but We Shall See.
now, onward, to Poorly Joining In The Second Ball!
behold, the fun part: COLOR!!!
finally made it to mothy and the squid’s INNER FIRE yarn, and hot damn is it delightful fun!! it’s way more interesting to work than the solid black, and it’s gonna look cool? hot as hell when it’s done!! less than four pattern repeats to go!
WAY PAST MY BEDTIME TOO HYPED TO SLEEP BAD LIGHTING PICTURES LET’S GOOOO~~
HERE’S THE SCRUNGLYASS HERSELF, FRESH OFF THE NEEDLES, AND HER POT OF STEW (TRAGICALLY POTATOLESS):
it took me 88 minutes and 10 seconds (plus or minus maybe 2 min)(i had a stopwatch going but also Family Interruptions and my stopwatch game isn’t hair-trigger accurate) to bind off all 646 stitches, but i DID IT and now she is BLOCKING and i am MOST PLEASED!! i’ll post pinned pictures once i have daylight and then drape pictures once she’s dry, but WOW what a DAY!!
*this point on your dash without witnessing THE COMPLETED SHAWL, is what he means by “you shawl shall not pass,” here
hello again world!! guess what has been BLOCKED and PHOTOGRAPHED and WRAPPED!! BEHOLD!!
she’s 65 inches at her widest and 17 inches from neckline to central point! she is VERY wrappable and wingspanny and cozy!! i’m so pleased with how she turned out! she took two skeins (a skein and a half really) of OPAL and most of the INNER FIRE, and the pattern can be found on ravelry here.
thanks for joining me on this treacherous quest–i’m glad most of our fellowship made it past the balrog. now, if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to go collapse in a heap and pine after second breakfast.
amhrancas 