This story on this shawl is long and likely not all that interesting. It all started when I saw the pattern on Ravelry. I had already planned a quick trip to Paris with my Mom and Joceylne, so I was overwhelmed by the magical draw of that city. I decided that not only would I make the shawl, but I would buy the yarn for it in Paris- perfect!
Despite the debacle of the 2010 Ravelympics, I joined the KAL. I didn't finish on time, or win any prizes, but I DID meet another, very nice knitter online- my first "virtual" friend : ) She and I shared the ups and downs, okay, mostly downs, of this project. It was awesome to e-mail back and forth about this project.
Of course, the pattern was not published in time for our trip...but I purchased what I thought would be the correct yardage in Paris. As it turns out, it was not the correct yardage!
I decided to continue this project with yarn from our not-so-local yarn shop here in Italy.
I cast on during our cruise and knitted away. All was fairly well until I hit the lace portion- oh, man, it was VERY difficult for me! I surmise it was uber-challenging because the pattern was not easily memorizable. This meant I absolutely had to give this project ALL my concentration. I had to sit there and knit while staring at the pattern and meticulously marking every row.
Eventually, I was struggling to finish row after long row. With my Mom's help, we started a candy for knit program. Yep, for every knitted row- I got a piece of candy to celebrate! I didn't reward myself for the purl rows....well, sometimes I did because they were soooo long! I also vowed that I would continue and fudge any small mistakes I made along the way, but if I made a big mistake, that I was going to frog the whole thing. Lucky for me, there were only a couple very small mistakes made....
I gifted this shalw to my French Mom, Jocelyn. She uses shawls regularly when she sits on her veranda, so it will get some use. I was happy to knit something for her. All's well that ends well.
Despite the debacle of the 2010 Ravelympics, I joined the KAL. I didn't finish on time, or win any prizes, but I DID meet another, very nice knitter online- my first "virtual" friend : ) She and I shared the ups and downs, okay, mostly downs, of this project. It was awesome to e-mail back and forth about this project.
Of course, the pattern was not published in time for our trip...but I purchased what I thought would be the correct yardage in Paris. As it turns out, it was not the correct yardage!
I decided to continue this project with yarn from our not-so-local yarn shop here in Italy.
I cast on during our cruise and knitted away. All was fairly well until I hit the lace portion- oh, man, it was VERY difficult for me! I surmise it was uber-challenging because the pattern was not easily memorizable. This meant I absolutely had to give this project ALL my concentration. I had to sit there and knit while staring at the pattern and meticulously marking every row.
Eventually, I was struggling to finish row after long row. With my Mom's help, we started a candy for knit program. Yep, for every knitted row- I got a piece of candy to celebrate! I didn't reward myself for the purl rows....well, sometimes I did because they were soooo long! I also vowed that I would continue and fudge any small mistakes I made along the way, but if I made a big mistake, that I was going to frog the whole thing. Lucky for me, there were only a couple very small mistakes made....
I gifted this shalw to my French Mom, Jocelyn. She uses shawls regularly when she sits on her veranda, so it will get some use. I was happy to knit something for her. All's well that ends well.
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