2-4 rows per week
If it looks like I haven't been knitting lately, it's a trick of your impatient eyes.
There has been growth here, progress is being made.
But it is the progress of plants, the growth of forests. At this point, my favorite knitting project moves at the rate of 2-4 rows per week.
Much like the movement of continental plates, sometimes even this speed is disconcertingly apparent. My mystery stole is complicated stitches, on very small needles, with miles and miles to go before complete. Every time I work a chart row, and then purl back across (2 rows) I feel accomplished. If I can then do a second chart row and purl back, I feel deliriously satisfied with myself. I am making progress. The stole might actually be finished prior to SeaSocks (though I still have this nagging feeling that I will be blocking this thing on the ship before dinner some night).
I'm working a modification to the pattern which attaches the wing differently. Rather than a somewhat abrupt line of demarcation (in the original pattern there is a row of eyelets, and then the wing begins) this modification takes the cat's paw diamonds, enlongates them slowly into the feather stitch of the wing. The border pattern finishes, is framed by a progression of slanting eyelets. The modified design appeals to me, because it has flow and balance. The original answered the designers intentions, this one answers mine. The concept of the stole is "Swan Lake" and it is intended to be asymmetrical. There is very traditional lace knitting on one side, a wing on the other, with that hard line between them, the break between night and day. But for me, who appreciates dusk and twilight, I'd rather have a stole which represents that in between time which is both, and neither. Perhaps I'll rename this one LadyHawke, in honor of that movie where the lovers can only touch in that moments in between.
But, I chose to switch beads, to accent the difference between night and day, woman and bird, just a little more. The beads used at the base of the feathers are bright silver lined clear crystal glass. Very high quality and lovely. The ones I used in the beginning, and will continue to use along the border edge for as long as it lasts are duller silver, etched glass. They are a little more muted, still lovely, but earthly. The feather beads look like stars.
I think, just maybe, this will become one of my showcase knitting pieces. I am proud of myself for working through this project. It is the most complicated piece of knitting I think I have ever done. I have managed to imbue it with ritual meaning as well. So, two rows at a time, I am building balance into my life. I can develop both wings and restraint. I can fly as well as return home. I can enjoy losing myself in the complicated decoding of chart into stitches, the muttering incantation of the stitches which become a picture under my fingers.
I am starting to love this piece, although, I'm in no hurry to finish it. 2-4 rows at a time. That's the speed of this knitting. Anything wrong with that? I am certainly making progress, of that I have no doubt:
It's already almost as long as I am. It will shrink some after being washed, but this stole will likely still be more than 7 feet long when it's done. I keep saying I want this to be finished before the cruise, but honestly, that's only 44 days from now. 6 weeks or so. I have more than 12 rows to go. And I really don't want to force this to grow any faster than it wants to, I want to enjoy this amazing experience for as long as I am allowed. I am not yet done finding my balance, so my knitting can not be finished either. But both are making progress, 2-4 rows at a time.
There has been growth here, progress is being made.
But it is the progress of plants, the growth of forests. At this point, my favorite knitting project moves at the rate of 2-4 rows per week.
Much like the movement of continental plates, sometimes even this speed is disconcertingly apparent. My mystery stole is complicated stitches, on very small needles, with miles and miles to go before complete. Every time I work a chart row, and then purl back across (2 rows) I feel accomplished. If I can then do a second chart row and purl back, I feel deliriously satisfied with myself. I am making progress. The stole might actually be finished prior to SeaSocks (though I still have this nagging feeling that I will be blocking this thing on the ship before dinner some night).
I'm working a modification to the pattern which attaches the wing differently. Rather than a somewhat abrupt line of demarcation (in the original pattern there is a row of eyelets, and then the wing begins) this modification takes the cat's paw diamonds, enlongates them slowly into the feather stitch of the wing. The border pattern finishes, is framed by a progression of slanting eyelets. The modified design appeals to me, because it has flow and balance. The original answered the designers intentions, this one answers mine. The concept of the stole is "Swan Lake" and it is intended to be asymmetrical. There is very traditional lace knitting on one side, a wing on the other, with that hard line between them, the break between night and day. But for me, who appreciates dusk and twilight, I'd rather have a stole which represents that in between time which is both, and neither. Perhaps I'll rename this one LadyHawke, in honor of that movie where the lovers can only touch in that moments in between.
But, I chose to switch beads, to accent the difference between night and day, woman and bird, just a little more. The beads used at the base of the feathers are bright silver lined clear crystal glass. Very high quality and lovely. The ones I used in the beginning, and will continue to use along the border edge for as long as it lasts are duller silver, etched glass. They are a little more muted, still lovely, but earthly. The feather beads look like stars.
I think, just maybe, this will become one of my showcase knitting pieces. I am proud of myself for working through this project. It is the most complicated piece of knitting I think I have ever done. I have managed to imbue it with ritual meaning as well. So, two rows at a time, I am building balance into my life. I can develop both wings and restraint. I can fly as well as return home. I can enjoy losing myself in the complicated decoding of chart into stitches, the muttering incantation of the stitches which become a picture under my fingers.
I am starting to love this piece, although, I'm in no hurry to finish it. 2-4 rows at a time. That's the speed of this knitting. Anything wrong with that? I am certainly making progress, of that I have no doubt:
It's already almost as long as I am. It will shrink some after being washed, but this stole will likely still be more than 7 feet long when it's done. I keep saying I want this to be finished before the cruise, but honestly, that's only 44 days from now. 6 weeks or so. I have more than 12 rows to go. And I really don't want to force this to grow any faster than it wants to, I want to enjoy this amazing experience for as long as I am allowed. I am not yet done finding my balance, so my knitting can not be finished either. But both are making progress, 2-4 rows at a time.
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