Finally, Success

Last week, I tried to start the next pattern in the Curls book. I thought I'd try to use the leftovers from my Dalgada Cowl, but it soon became apparent that the combination of yarn and needle just wasn't working. So the other evening, I wound up a skein of handspun that's nearly three years old. I tried again, this time with a smaller needle. Two failed attempts. I wasn't about to let this pattern beat me, so last night, after finishing up some plying, I sat down with the pattern and the yarn determined to do it. And I did.

This small start represents probably less than an hour total of knitting time, but the piece grows quickly thanks to three increases on every row. And with every repeat, the pattern gets easier. I'm not sure what it was that was giving me such trouble, but for some reason I couldn't get the chart to work with my brain on the first several attempts. Now I'm starting to get a feel for the repetition of the stitches, and I have a feeling that soon I'll have the pattern pretty much memorized. I am enjoying the yarn, though. It wasn't the smoothest of spins, as I recall (it was a bit neppy and had a fair amount of VM), but the finished yarn is fairly soft and poofy.

Meanwhile, I've been working on the new cowl during my lunch break and it's grown. I have just one more stripe sequence, I think, before I'll be ready to start the lace edging.

And speaking of lace, that hot pink lace shawl you'd seen a couple peeks of is done and blocked. Here's another peek:

I'm hoping to do a photo shoot and write up the pattern this weekend, so you'll soon see the whole thing.