just another raveller

It's been a while since my last post. Of course, I will keep on with the Palatine though the third repeat, but I put it aside as it needs solitude and concentration. It's been more than a month since I posted. Spring has sprung in Western New York and the pollen has left me exhausted. I have not, however, been idle. I have been working on a gift for someone who has been very helpful to our family. First, I knit the Alka shawl out of Stahman's Scarves and Shawls . I've had the book for more than a year and I'm only now getting around to using it. It focuses on patterns for shawls that are fitted to stay on your shoulders as well as on patterns for seaman's scarves. I used Cascade 220 for this project. It turned out well enough, but I have decided that it doesn't really fit the bill. It will go into the present drawer for later consideration. Afterwards, I ordered 10 skeins of Karabella Lace Merino for a square shawl. I contemplated the Fir Cone Square from...

I managed to get through though last week by deluding myself that I was on the third and final repeat of the hundred row chart on page 38-39 of the Pine Tree Palatine pattern. It's hellishly repetitive and without any of the usual aids that you find in lace patterns, such as bold or coloured vertical lines to help you determine where you are in the pattern, or numbers printed in the long runs of knit stitches. Russian knitters must view such devices as crutches to proper knitting. I'm finally getting it though. You're supposed to glance at the chart and think something like, "Oh, for this row, I've got to knit past so many holes and when I get to the Nth yarnover from the row below, then I knit the next row of the Pine Tree motif." Or maybe, "If the Pine Tree motif doesn't start right after a yo from the row below, then maybe it starts right after one from 2 rows below." It's all about knitting the motif rather than about counting stitches....