Knowing When Is When

So there’s this knitting thing I have been working on for a while. It’s called the Swallowtail Shawl (by Evelyn Clark). It’s a lace knitting project, and I am knitting with some nice alpaca I bought from the yarn shop garage sale person.


First effort took me to the 5th of 14 repeats of the first lace pattern before I saw I had erred irretrievably, but that was okay. With lace, at least for me, sometimes there is a learning curve, and I didn’t swatch/practice this pattern. I frogged and started over, considering this as my lesson.

Second effort took me the 9th of the 14 repeats before I saw that my stitches were not giving me the desired look. Something was amiss, and 1) could not be fixed, and 2) would not be lived with. I even tried to take it back to the last repeat and re-knit to no avail. In fact, this pattern does not lend itself to doing this successfully, to my thinking. Frogging ensued and another re-start.

Third effort began with much promise. I have learned to see how my stitches are happening, (how the k2tog K SSK build the ‘buds’, where the YO K YO build on either side of the previous K, etc...trust me, Brother, it happens....), as well as having ‘learned’ the pattern. I was (note the past tense) really clicking along. The knitting was not perfect, but I found mistakes as they happened and compensated immediately, such a good lace knitter I am! O pride….how she goes before the fall. I finished the 10th of 14 repeats with trepidation, knowing all was not right with my Swallowtail world.

At this point, I knew another re-start was required, and to quote (more or less) one of my favorite southern ladies of fiction, ‘as gah is my witness, I will knit that shawl! I will!!’ One day….but not this day. This day the yarn was rewound and laid away for now.

Christmas knitting calls, and I know when to say when.