Back in September, I posted about receiving a rather full package of yarn. I was particularly taken with one of the skeins, and it was such a brilliant, beautiful red that I literally gasped when I pulled it out the package.
I didn't have a project planned for this yarn, and it was tucked away to wait for me to discover the perfect pattern. A few weeks ago, frustrated with my knitting apathy, I decided to pull out this skein and knit it up. I hoped a project with special yarn would bring back some of my knitting enthusiasm, so I found a shawl pattern (Charlize) that I thought would be a good fit for the yarn, wound the skein and cast on.
I wasn't initially too enthused about the new project. I realized the yarn was more variegated than I had thought, and I wasn't loving the lace knitting. As I knit more, I started to like how the colors were working, and I was able to pick up some momentum in the last week. Friday night I bound off the shawl and eagerly dunked it in water to block. Blocking was the first hint that this wasn't going to be my dream project. The edge wasn't stretchy enough to fully spread out the lace middle, and something seemed wrong with the shape. Not surprisingly, nothing changed overnight as it dried, but I unpinned it, wove in the last few ends, and wore it out.
There's nothing huge wrong with it. The shape seems a little off and the bind off is a bit tight, but those are my only tangible complaints. Whatever is going on though, I'm just not happy with it. I'm determined to knit down my sock yarn stash this year, but I think this project could be heading toward a complete ripping and the yarn back in stash. I'm tempted to rip it out this minute, but it's 4am, and since I promised myself no more big knitting decisions in the wee hours of the morning, I'm resisting grabbing the scissors. Really a bummer that the first thing I've finished in weeks is such a dud. In the end, probably better to relegate the yarn back to the stash drawer than have a shawl that I scowl at, right? I think I need to go wind a skein with some cashmere in it and find a new project.
