Destination Anywhere

The lace triangle shawl has been kind of my Holy Grail of knitting. I've always loved the lace triangles I've seen accomplished knitters produce. They're traditional in many parts of Europe, with amazing patterns becoming more available, and more knitters and designers using traditional and contemporary takes on the established patterns in their work. The projects always seemed to be beyond my skill level, and I've loved them from a distance. I've been steadily plowing through some more adventurous knitting this year, and taught myself to read a simple lace chart with my Louisa tunic and Wrenna Cardigan from French Girl Knits. Larry claims he never knew I knew so many filthy curse words until I started knitting lace.

I cast on for the "198 Yards of Heaven" shawl pattern, figuring that it looked like a good beginners pattern since it was relatively simple, and in worsted weight yarn, so a faster knit. I remembered the old graphic design phrase--"If you can't make it good make it big, if you can't make it big make it red" as I found a few balls of a soft red merino in my stash. I color coded the chart, collected stitch markers, and was in business. I went slowly at first, then picked up speed as the pattern slowly began to make sense.

I plowed through the last pattern repeat and the edging Friday afternoon and evening during a "House" marathon on tv, barely stopping for dinner. Soaked it, blocked it out, and let dry overnight.

Makes up for this week's knitting disaster, the cabled cardigan that felted when I blocked it. More on that later.