Monday, April 27, 2009

Knitting Dilemma

Hello! Please pay attention as there will be a skill-testing (or at least, opinion-testing) question at the end of this.
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I am rarely warm enough. I tend to be in cold places (Calgary, Oct-May, my basement, etc.), and having a shawl to snuggle up in makes me warmer & happy. I've got two now - one that mom made, that lives on my bed, & one that lives in the living room.
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I've got a hankering for a new shawl. I've even found the pattern - Shawl That Jazz. While I did find it because of the Harlot, I'd been looking for a SIMPLE shawl pattern for a while. I don't have enough concentration or spare time for lace, yo. I'm also using knitting as my portable meditation to deal with the world & a toddler - who, although terrific, is teaching me almost as much as I'm trying to teach her.*
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I'd shortlisted it to a couple, but was still a little dissatisfied with the shape, the texture, or something, when I fell for Shawl That Jazz by Samantha Roshak (Rav link). Nice tapered shape, all knitting, no wrap short rows. Maybe a bit of an ordeal to cast on & cast off, but whatevs. It looks grand in variegated yarn, and I have such a weakness for multicolored yarn.
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It calls for a DK weight (or so), and I thought I'd found the perfect yarn & scooped up six hanks of it. Then I wound it all into balls, got gauge on my first try, and thought "Huh."
(Through the bag you can see my hot pink slippers that feature leopards. I look HOT when I'm at home.)
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I didn't like the hand of the fabric for the shawl I wanted in my head. Or rather, in my head, I did not like the hand of the fabric for the shawl that I want in real life.** Instead of trying to fool myself by changing gauge, then changing stitch count, then collapsing in a heap of tears after ripping out hundreds of yards of knitting, I listened to my muse, & swiftly & decisively repurposed that yarn (Cascade 220 handpaints, btw) into a sweater that will work grandly over my increasing profile, but should still serve post-baby as well; Petal, by Stephanie Japel. After four tries for gauge, it's cast on, & I feel good about it.

(Really very clever - two buttons along neck, so you can lap it over, or not, or leave it open & have nice lapels. I'm only about an inch in, but pleased. You can't tell in that shot, but I'd guess that she's about 7 mos along in the photo.)
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That's all fine for now - please, knitting muse, I'm not challenging you; I'm simply moving on to my next point of discussion. Please don't thrown any monkeys at the petal project.
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Back to the shawl in my head, that I want in real life. I'd dyed some yarn (same stuff that I made my red Liesl out of), and it's so wonderfully soft that I just want to roll around in it. I'd planned on a cardigan, but, the cardi, well. It's not really as tempting to me now as it was; you know how patterns sometimes wane in your affections. So now I have about 1200 yards of yarn in a weight that should serve, that would be delicious and snuggley for the shawl. The purples are quite variegated - this is working it's way from being a semi-sold to a multi colored, I think.
Here's the hitch - there is a color variation between these skeins. It's very slight, as you can see - no problem, if I was planning on making a cardi or something where I could alternate balls, so that any variations weren't apparent.
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But the clever construction of Shawl That Jazz won't allow that kind of jiggery-pokery, no. So, after contemplation, I've come up some options... and although I've tried, I can't get the poll to show up just below this text, but if you look to the right, you'll see an opinion poll named "Shawl that Dilemma...Should I:" Click on whichever option you think best; no logging in or anything goofy required. If my attempt at clever little polls won't work, then please leave me a comment!
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*Don't throw your food on the floor! Yelling louder does not increase comprehension or compliance! Agh!
**Sorry S___ & S____, S___'s mom - I almost left that there just to make you crazy.

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