Finished my shawl

I've been a woman on a mission to finish this shawl, and did so very quickly. Cast-on to cast-off was just 10 days.  Of course, "conversation" with my husband during those 10 days was relegated to the realm of grunts and nods.  On Friday night we watched the Russell Crowe "Robin Hood".  Well, G-man watched it.  I, on the other hand, fixed a major screw-up discovered after I'd triumphantly exclaimed "last row!".  I think I may have seen 2 scenes and only sort of followed the movie's plot-line: something about bows and arrows, a dead king and his despot brother, and principal actors who were too old for the roles they were playing...

I made lots of mistakes, tinked (that's "knit" backwards) many rows, and learned several things in making this project.

First, I gained confidence. This was my first lace project and I'm now confident that I can make more - and more complicated - projects.

Second, I learned the wrap and turn technique for short rows. I'm glad the pattern maker included that link because I wouldn't have thought to do that.  It's an obvious step to take (now).  Along with this I discovered Tech Knitting, a fantastic blog about knitting techniques.

Third, I learned that I can make alterations to a pattern to suit my needs. This shawl was designed to be quite wide in the center and taper to the edges. Once I figured out how the short rows worked I decided to lengthen them, therefore making the shawl narrower. I really wanted this to be more scarf-like than shawl-esque and accomplished that goal.

Forth, and probably most importantly, I learned how to find and correct mistakes. A couple of times I had to undo several rows to correct my mistake, corrections that took me 2-4 hours. Another time I was able to undo the stitches above the mistake and reknit just that section. Still, it sucked.  Some nights the work consisted of 2 rows knitted, 3 rows tinked, several new swear words invented.

Finally, I learned how to do an i-cord bind-off. If you knit and don't know how to do this, check out this video.  It's where I learned.

This project has stretched my abilities more than anything I've made in a long time.  What a great project to have done.  I am like a kid with a new toy, and wore the shawl all day.  It's so pretty, so soft, and so luxurious.  I'm glad G-man made me get the yarn, and glad he picked this color for me.  It's not a color I would have selected for myself but I've already received compliments on how it goes with my coloring.

Thank you, honey.