Finished Object Friday: Starling Citron

Recent epiphany:  the amount of time it takes me to post a finished knitted item is directly related to how I feel about said item.  Jordan, which I was thrilled with, I posted within 2 days.  Citron?  It was finished over a month ago.  I could drone on that I was on vacation, or just too busy lately, and the colors weren't coming out well in pictures and I wanted to wait until I got better ones, but really, those are all just excuses.  The plain and simple truth is that my feeling on Citron is best summed up in one word:  meh.  And it's not that easy to motivate to sit down and write about something that you are not excited about.

The crazy thing is that it came out almost exactly as I envisioned and planned.  Apparently I had to see the actual item and not just the picture in my head to realize it is so not me.

Example of color wonkiness

I do not do bold stripey shawls. Unfortunately I had to make one to realize that.  So I'm chalking up these few weeks of knitting and over 700 yards of handspun (those runched sections absolutely devoured yarn) to a lesson learned.  I will be trying to remind myself regularly as I drool over gorgeous handpainted braids of fiber that solid colors are my friend.  Or at least slowing transitioning gradients.  And maybe variegated braids that aren't as vibrant.  Or I could spin the fiber differently to give it a more heathered appearance. Or....yeah, I don't see myself passing up all variegated braids anytime soon.  How about just:  choose wisely?

The good thing is that I adored every minute of knitting Citron.  Even those beastly 700+ stitch rows (I seriously think it took about 90 minutes to bind off).  The handspun came out so well that I think I just liked knitting with it no matter what I was knitting, even endless rows of stockinette.  And talk about utilizing every last bit of handspun--I had maybe 2 grams left.  So while I am firmly in the "product knitting" camp, even I can't regret all the happy hours this shawl provided.  You win some, you lose some--I'm calling this one a draw.

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