In the Pink

It should come as no shock to anyone that I could not stay off the Pink for long. I'm back in the pink, and it's not just the new Bobbi Brown Pink pallette for spring.

Yesterday, after I finished the blog entry about the upcoming Highland Triangle Along (because, of course, it will be all about me and my project!), I googled the Triangle to see fellow knitter's finished masterpieces. Obviously, I got a hit on WendyKnits. I also stumbled onto one of her self-styled interview Q&A's, where she recommends Kimono Shawl as a good first lace project. W--whhat??? I stammered out loud (that's ok, What????, enunciated with outrage is fairly typical in my office -- he did WHAT? he got WHAT? the judge did WHAT?).

I tried Kimono a few years ago. I used a Zephyrlike Merino Silk that I got at Stitches, and I think I was on 7's. I couldn't even get through one repeat of the 24 row pattern without a half a dozen mistakes. I said, Feh, and put it away.

But, Wendy says, "Easy and fun." Fun? Hmm . . . we'll see about that. I set out to prove her wrong.

I remembered some pink Rowan yarn I got on Ebay when I first started to knit, Rowan dk Soft, which is now discontinued. At the time, I made a pretty drop stitch scarf, but I wasn't crazy about the yarn, and the dull pink didn't do it for me. So, I abandoned the rest of it to the bottomless stash, not even placing it in a queue position. Eh, I'll cast on with this yarn, I thought, because it won't be easy, and it won't be fun, and I'm just going to rip it out, and I'd rather screw around with crap than waste "real" yarn (real = likely to become something).

And low and behold, it was easy, and I'm on the fence about fun -



What's the difference? Am I that better of a knitter three years later? Well, probably yes. But, the real difference is, this time around, I'm reading the chart instead of the written out directions. I always poo poo'd people who said charts would change my life - but now, I've been born again - I see the light. The chart is where it's at. And, the markers!! As I mentioned below - Fast and Wrong is my game - and the markers are really a guidepost. For those of you who know me, you know that I don't drive. That's because I'm an incredibly bad driver, and I've retired myself from the road. Driving a car to me is like driving a weapon, and the world is a much safer place without me on the road. One of my problems was that I liked to drive fast -- but driving fast, I tend to miss turn-offs, along with traffic lights and stop signs. I knit very much the same way, and these markers - oy!, I just cannot say enough about the markers - other than, why didn't I try that before, duh.

Now to the serious business - the fun part. I still don't love the yarn, and 25 repeats is a big (huge) commitment. So, do I say, yep, this was excellent practice, and cast on in the real deal, or do I finish this, and probably gift it. Dunno.

And, by the way - Dolly must have heard about project spectrum - because that could be the only reason for this disaster of a dress!