Shh. I just got Tee Top settled down. She's been in a snit because I broke my promise to her, and I started the Any Which Way shawl. Readers may remember that I took a vow that I would finish the back of TT before I started the shawl. I admit it; I'm a fickle knitter and a promise-breaker. I made the promise with the best of intentions and I'm callously casting it off and forging ahead. This is simple practicality....I will wear the shawl all winter. I won't wear TT till next spring...assuming she fits and I can wear her at all. This is what happens when you let a project try to run the roost. It wrings promises out of you that you can't or won't keep. This makes you look like the bad guy, when you are simply a knitter who wants to knit what she wants when she wants. Is this too much to ask?
Enough. It's a done deal. I spent two hours perfecting the crocheted cast on, and got 672 beautiful stitches on the needle. Yes, you heard me...672. That's as far as I've gotten. Here's the Koigu that will go into this shawl.
I was inspired by Teresa's seaglass colors. It prompted me to return the selection I had made and start over in picking my colors. I still like Teresa's choices even better, but I had to make do with the paltry selection available at Threadbear. (Hi Rob. Hi Matt.) I've rearranged the order of the colors many times. I think I ended up with the palest green in the middle, and alternating solids with mixtures.
IS THIS A BOOK CLUB OR A KNITTING CLUB
I hosted book club last night for our discussion of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which all but one of us very much enjoyed. It took a long time to get to the discussion though, because we were full of knitting chatter. Emily was teaching Pat to knit, and I was teaching Chey to knit, and Linda got right to work on the basket of stash yarn that I put out for knitting a Stash Scarf. Emily was also putting finishing touches on a scarf, and I was plugging away on the Making Waves sock. Tina was admiring Emily's scarf and making arrangements to have Emily knit one for her. Jill, who is also a knitter, was looking around at everyone knitting and itching for a pair of needles in her hands. So we knit, we talked, we ate chocolate cake, we picked a new book for next month (The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker...anyone read it?). It was a pretty great night.
AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME
In half an hour I am heading to the airport to pick up my son, Matt, who is home from his summer in Africa. He should have interesting stories to tell. I'll share highlights next week.
Where did he go in Africa? I bet he'll have a million stories. What kind of trip did he take?
I was supposed to go to Tanzania this past spring with Heifer International, but my job messed up my plans.
Did your son have to learn a language?
Posted by: Mary | 09/09/2004 at 09:35 PM
I'd like you to know that I showed my scarf to my students today and they all thought it was beautiful. It's coming along fine.
Posted by: chey | 09/09/2004 at 09:53 PM
What's the Any Which Way pattern? Love the colors. Love the inspiration palette, too. That's very close to what I'm doing for a "gift" Charlotte's Web. I just can't show it on my site because the giftee reads my blog. So, it was funny to see two color schemes along the same lines in koigu getting ready to be used.
Posted by: amy | 09/09/2004 at 10:19 PM
I too love your Koigu colors and would like to know more about the Any Which Way Shawl. I'm fairly new to shawl knitting but have a fair amount of Koigu in my stash that is crying for a new project . . .
Posted by: Jody | 09/09/2004 at 11:13 PM
Thanks for your kind comments on my blog - nice words always make the day seem brighter. Love the colors you've chosen for your Any Which Way shawl. I'd love that much Koigu to play with. Have a great Friday. Can't wait to hear stories from Africa - my former in laws met in Africa during the 60's in the peace corps so I've heard many a good tale already but would love to hear more.
Posted by: Jessica | 09/10/2004 at 09:34 AM
Pretty shawl and it will be fun to watch it grow..you'll show us, right!?
We read the same book. You should have heard to controversy in SLC!! This month we're reading Brick Lane.
Posted by: Margene | 09/10/2004 at 04:50 PM
Yes, you definitely have to post progress pictures. You're the first person I know of to make it, so I'm anxious. Knit, girl, knit! And once again, I'm sorry about the 672 sts. ;)
Posted by: Kristi | 09/10/2004 at 05:30 PM
Oooooh! That shawl is looking all shiny and sparkly and seaglassy to me. Yum. Glad to have encouraged more Koigu collecting. Some collect stamps, some real sea glass. We collect........
Posted by: Teresa C | 09/11/2004 at 01:54 PM
Hey-I think you mentioned reading Mirror, Mirror to me back when I was reading it. I loved it, then went to Wicked and loved the first three-fourths or so, then was so dissappointed with the way it was wrapped up, so to speak. I also thought that maybe Mr. Maquire was getting paid by the word, thus the constant repeat of discussions that had happened many times in the book. I also wish we could have met some characters that were so important to the story but never ever were resolved. And some characters were very important, went away and never really came back. People die, we don't know what from. When I think about it, all of these things are very much like real life, but in fiction I like things to have a beginning, middle and end. Well, this should have been an email and not a comment that others will have to suffer through. Sorry.
Posted by: Teresa C | 09/11/2004 at 01:59 PM
I'm making another Oooh comment because I just love those colors and can't wait to see you start knitting!
Posted by: monica | 09/13/2004 at 09:13 AM
love those blues and greens you've chosen....as well as the inspiration.
aaaah, but have you read Sea Glass? Excellent story. One of my favorite authors.
Posted by: Kathy | 09/13/2004 at 12:11 PM