Sometimes things just…work out grandly.
I’ve been working up a design based on the sketch I showed in last week’s post. It’s a half-pi shawl with a variety of lace motifs and slip stitches bordering the different sections. The semi-circle is one of my favorite shawl shapes, but I haven’t designed one since Fenestra (Ravelry link) way back in 2019—has it really been that long? This project has been far more enjoyable; it’s hard not to chuckle, looking back on how much hair-tearing Fenestra cost me, even though it’s now one of the simpler designs in my portfolio. While the new design isn’t significantly more complicated, all kinds of little tricks that I know now (and didn’t then) are making the whole process much smoother and the design much cleaner. I actually decided to revisit one of the stitch patterns from Fenestra for this new design, though. Can you spot it?
As you can see above, I drew and colored a sketch for reference while I’m working, which I don’t always do for shawls. So far it’s knitting up exactly the way I planned it, which doesn’t always happen. It’s reminding me of a quote from the 1982 movie The Scarlet Pimpernel, when Sir Percy Blakeney says in his put-on voice, “I…have a plan!” and his brother in-law, Armand, replies with an 18th-century eye-roll, “You… have a plan?” Yes, Armand, I have a plan; and so far it appears to be working. The relevance of this quote will be revealed at a later date. For now, knitting.
