The temperature has finally started to dip here, and as Bob and I were headed out the door the other day to walk down to the market, I thought, “Wasn’t I knitting myself a shawl? A grey shawl.”
That evening, I pulled this old thing out of its project bag and decided to finish it, no matter how it turned out, because at least it would be A) warm and B) out of the WIP pile. As I started my way down the next garter row, remembering I’d planned to do quite a bit more, I realized it was actually enough. As in, I’d been done this whole time. So I worked one more row of garter to put me back on the right side. (Not because it mattered; just because I can be a little OCD like that.) And then I spent two evenings working EZ’s beautiful sewn bind-off on it, before blocking it last Sunday. What on earth was I thinking wanting to frog this? It’s totally fine! Warm as can be, and no longer clogging up my basket. (I put all the gory pattern, yarn, measurement details at Ravelry. And for anyone interested in knitting Orlane’s Textured Shawl but not sure how it works, here’s my explainer.)
By the way, that middle photo is titled “Oh the grainy, raccoon-eyed agony of last minute photos on a foggy day.”
Speaking of clogging up my basket, things had gotten a little out of hand around here. The basket had spawned two more, both with the remains of finished projects rolling around their bellies. There was yarn everywhere — not neatly organized by size in the four allotted bins. Abandoned WIPs had never been frogged and were overflowing a bin of their own in the laundry closet. Gradually, over a few days, I tackled all of it. The yarn is all sorted and put away. The failed knits are frogged and reskeined. Now all there is in my big basket is the neverending cardigan and the jumbo swatch for my next pattern. It feels amazing to have everything so pared down. Now if I can just keep resisting the incredible urge to cast on another sweater before the Acer is done …
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One small shop note before I tell you Happy Weekend. I spoke to Amy this week, maker of the leather Wrapper pouches, and she’s decided to discontinue the rust. Which means the 2 rust-colored Large Pouches I have on hand are presumably the last of their kind, and it’s no longer an option in the Long Pouch either. (Navy and tan will still be available in both.) So if you’ve had your eye on the rust, nab one now!
Happy weekend, everyone!
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Your shawl looks like the perfect thing for this time of year. Good for you for tackling your wips pile and not frogging this lovely thing!
Really glad I put it aside rather than doing anything hasty.
Beautiful!
Gray, textured, and warm, what’s not to love! Looks wonderful on you, to boot.
Yeah…it has been cool up here too. The kind of mornings that make me realize I could really use more shawls like yours. Sigh….so many wonderful things to make and so little friggin time.
At US11 and about 320 yards of wool, this was a pretty quick knit. For what it’s worth.
very nice!
I finally finished my crimson shawlette in sock yarn (handdyed at Black Trillium) and I’m thrilled! Its so warm – surprisingly so. Your Orlane shawl is gorgeous! Makes me happy just looking at it. Something to be said for waiting a bit before frogging something.
You talked about organizing your yarns. Here’s a super basic, “Yarn 1o1” question I’d love to hear about: how do people organize their yarns? I keep fooling around with different ways (since my stash is growing like crazy.) Unfortunately I have an “out of site, out of mind” thing, which then means I have way too many yarns piled in plain sight so I won’t forget them. Also, lots of small projects for me, so lots of one skein purchases.
Mine is all in see-through bins in an attempt to address the “out of sight” issue. And these are lined up on a shelf in my laundry closet, so they are in my line of vision all the time. Those pics were taken a little over a year ago, and they are definitely fuller now but still not FULL. And there are still a few large ziplocs of sweater-quantity yarns in a different cabinet.
I love this shawl…the color…the texture…everything! And you are a fabulous model!
That’s very kind of you to say, thank you.
Gorgeous, I love it. I’ve got quite a few shawls in queue but this looks like it might jump ahead.
It’s SUCH a pleasant knit. This is my second one and there will most definitely be more.
After reading this post, I cast on this shawl using some Rowan Felted Tweed in a blue/gray from my stash. Thank you for the inspiration! This is exactly the type of knitting project I was looking for.
Awesome! Rowan Felted Tweed will be so lovely for this.
So nice to see your lovely face! The shawl looks perfect. I could use something warm and squishy like it now!
Warm and squishy is good stuff.
I love this! I’ve thought about making this shawl a few times….I don’t view myself as a shawl person but then when I see them I love them. You’ve inspired me. Think I will look through my yarn and see if I can come up with something to use. Thanks for sharing!
It looks great! Really warm. I keep meaning to knit one of these. There are never enough hours in the day for knitting though, how does that happen!
This looks wonderful! I hope you had a great weekend!
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I absolutely love the way the shawl looks on you <3
http://www.wllwproject.com
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