Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Half Of The Forest

I bound off the first half of my Ancient Woodlands shawl at my knitting group last Monday, and it felt like I had passed a major milestone. It got passed around the table to much ooooh-ing and aaaah-ing, and I had to keep a sharp eye on one of my friends who would very much like to have it for her own.

AWHalf

It was nice to spread it out over the table, run my hands over it and just marvel that I’m actually making it with my own hands.

AWBoder

Then it was time to contemplate the next step, unzipping the crochet cast-on and getting the loops back on the needles so I could repeat the pattern in the other direction.

Armed with my US 0’s (2 mm) I did the deep breathing thing for a few minutes and got to work.

Slide the needle into a few stitches

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And gently unravel the crochet cotton

AWPickup

Again and again and again.

Then I did a certain amount of counting and head scratching. 113 stitches? That can’t be right; I’ve been mentally counting to 114 for weeks now. Do it again… 111, 112, 113… drat.

Then a snippet of knitterly lore swam up from where it had been hiding, deep in the recesses of the portion of my brain known as I’ve Read About This Somewhere.

I remembered that if you’re going to be taking a provisional cast-on out and knitting in the other direction, you need to cast on one extra stitch and then decrease it away in the first row. That way you’ll end up with the correct number of loops, instead of being presented with the need to do an increase after taking out the provisional.

I’ll admit it here… I fudged it. And you know what? I can’t find it anymore.

Since then I’ve been pretty much obsessed with this shawl. I finished nearly half of the first chart over the weekend, and I’m up to the 51st row as of this picture.

AW70Percent


Who knows, I might even stand a decent chance of finishing this one before the next shipment arrives!

16 comments:

TinkerTots said...

I'm sorry I missed it! I hope you'll bring it again next Monday.

Rose Red said...

It's so wonderful, I'm not surprised there was much oohing and aahing. I'm sending you virtual oohs and aahs!!

m1k1 said...

Hey. Look at that. We can see the forest and the trees.
Great work.

KT said...

Oh, the tricky missing stitch! Seems like an increase in the first row of the second half would serve just as well as a decreased extra cast on. You passed the test. :) It's looking really, really good.

marycatharine said...

It's going to be beautiful! I had no idea you needed to add an extra stitch with a provisional cast on.

Anna said...

Beautiful!!!

Karen said...

Wahoo!!! How beautiful!
Love the colour, too....

MadMad said...

Ooooh! It's beautiful! I, too, need deep breaths (and usually some wine) in order to deal with those provisional cast ons... I don't know why they say "zip it back" as if it was this easy, non dangerous thing, when in reality it is a disaster waiting to happen. Glad for the tip about the extra stitch, though. I had been just assuming I was stupid and couldn't count. And then just fudging in an extra. Cool!

TinkingBell said...

Beautiful - you are so clever! It looks gorgeous!

Nora said...

Look at you! Beautiful knitting - and I would have done the same thing with the stitches. I still avoid the provisional cast-on at nearly all costs.

Chandler said...

Viva la fudging! The piece is gorgeous, and the colorway is so Pacific Northwest! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Donna Lee said...

It's gorgeous. I love the trees and the color and well, just love. I had to keep going back and looking at it. What a good job you're doing.

Lieke said...

It looks so great! Really pretty. That'll be one shawl to wear with pride.

Alwen said...

Oh, that is beautiful, and a green to drool over!

Gidgetknits said...

This is the most amazing shawl! From the moment I saw it, I've been obsessed. Your work on it is beautiful!

Kathleen Taylor said...

Wow! The shawl is fantastic! And good for you for remembering about the missing stitch (I didn't know that propensity- I've never done a provisional crochet cast on. Thanks for the heads up).