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I do like a challenge

A dear friend of mine is getting married in just two and a half weeks, and I am incredibly excited to be able to attend (wedding is in Colorado, I am in Florida, this is going to be the wedding for which I have traveled the farthest, and only the second out-of-state wedding I’ve attended). Months ago, my friend had said that she’d purchased a shawl to wear for the wedding that wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind. Any knitter out there likely knows what happened next.

I volunteered to knit her a shawl. Any pattern, any yarn, whatever, and it would be done.

I sent her links to various patterns, and various kinds of yarn, and even offered to add beads to the shawl to make it extra sparkly. She wanted something lacy, but on the every day level of functionality, with a fuzzy-ish mohair-like yarn, and was all over the idea of beads.

And now I will admit that I had never knit a shawl, never knit with mohair yarn, and never added beads to my knitting.

I laugh in the face of challenges! Muahaha. Ha.

Before anyone gets to thinking that this is a recipe for disaster, I going to say this. I have discovered that my success in knitting is directly proportional to my unjustified belief that I can actually do things that I’ve never tried to do.*

Wedding Shawl

It’s knitting up wonderfully. It’s the second-most time-consuming project I’ve ever worked on, but I’m loving it. The pattern is Nikol Lohr’s Woodland Shawl (Rav link), the yarn is Elann’s Silken Kydd, and the beads were bought at Michael’s. I am slightly worried about it not being quite as long as I would like it to be, however I did just order a set of blocking wires and pins and, once again, have a completely unjustified and very likely daft idea that it will all work out perfectly.

Let me have a little bit of faith, please.

* This sounds like bragging, and under most circumstances it probably would be, but you also have to keep in mind that I’ve never really knit anything that absolutely required perfect gauge. The day I work up the nerves to start on a sweater is probably the day I completely forget anything I ever learned about knitting.

8 Comments

  1. Hope to see a picture of it finished! Great going, taking up the challenge!

    • threadpanda threadpanda

      Thank you! Expect a picture of the finished shawl sometime after the wedding. πŸ˜‰

  2. Alex Alex

    That looks gorgeous! πŸ™‚ I can’t wait to see the finished shawl!

    I absolutely LOVE blocking lace, lol. There’s just something fun about taking a wet lump of knitting and pinning it out and then unpinning it hours later — and it’s absolutely transformed.

    • threadpanda threadpanda

      Thanks! I’m excited about trying to block out the finished shawl. Trying to work out where I’m going to do said blocking is a different matter. πŸ˜€

  3. MaleficentKnits MaleficentKnits

    You go girl! I knit a lace shawl in mohair for my mum and it was definitely a challenge, especially after having to rip it out three times… I just know that you can do it! Looking forward to seeing the finished project posted!

    • threadpanda threadpanda

      Oh wow. Thankfully I haven’t had to rip it out except for a row here and there. Thanks for the encouragement!

  4. Wicked Wicked

    Wow! That looks great! I can’t wait to see the full picture.

    And we should totally get together while you are out here.

    I will willingly drive 70 miles to have a cup of tea with you.

    But of course, only if you have time, as I know wedding visits can be rather hectic.

    • threadpanda threadpanda

      Cool! I’ll let you know what the schedule of events is like whenever I find out myself. πŸ˜€

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