This weekend I totally surprised myself by finishing the first edging piece for my Estonian shawl. Granted, it was a long weekend, and the weather was miserable, so I had plenty of knitting time. But with so many stitches on the needles, you’d think I’d be tempted to work on other, less tedious projects... you know, ones where an hour’s effort produced visible results.
Nope. Quite the opposite: I was the lucky beneficiary of the “just one more row” instinct. One row turned into two, two rows turned into three... I couldn’t help myself; I just had to keep knitting.
And in just a few days I had a ridiculously long and skinny bit of fluff. Piled on the kitchen scale, it looks like this:
Better yet, here’s the remaining yarn:
Whew! That’s reassuring. Now I know I’ll have enough yarn to finish, without having to rip any of my swatches.
Here’s what I have yet to figure out: will it work? Will I be able to sew the edging pieces onto the body of the shawl, easing around the corners and matching the edging points to the corners, without going blind or crazy in the process? Will it block out nicely, or will some part insist on puckering or curling? Will the shawl be of reasonable size, or will it seem like an oversized scarf?
The only way to find out is to keep on going, starting with the second edging piece. With any luck, the “just one more row” drive will seize me again.
Wow, you got a lot done over the weekend and you don't have to sweat running out of yarn. I think it will be a masterpiece because you have thought out any possible pitfalls. Go, JC! By the way, is the edging bound off, and if so, by what method?
» AnnP
Thought out any possible pitfalls? Jeez, no. Who can tell what pitfalls I haven’t yet thought of??
Yes, the edging is bound off, using a traditional Estonian technique: slip 1, k1, *insert left needle into 2 sts on right needle and k2tog through back loops, k1, repeat from *. It has a lot of give, and it’s reasonably fast to do... though with hundreds of stitches on the needles, it still took me well over an hour.
» JC