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Shetland Lace Shawl
Stage 4: Forging Ahead
December 15, 1998
Lois has swatched again using larger needles, and is delighted with the result -- and the fact that her shawl will now require 25% fewer stitches than she originally thought!
Jackie continues to pull ahead of the pack -- and proves that she's just as finicky (er, detail-oriented) as the rest of us!
She's finished the edging (picture 1) and (in her own words) ...
decided to tackle the grafting right then and there. Bad decision maybe, because my brain was obviously not too awake or thinking well. I ended the last repeat of the edging on row 11, then changed to a contrast waste thread and worked row 12, then worked a few plain rows in yet another color waste thread and bound off (so I wouldn't have to be juggling needles while grafting, or pining out the stitches onto a pillow). Made sure I would be joining without a twist (re-checked MANY times - at least I didn't make that mistake - can you tell this is from the voice of experience :) !)
Looked at what I had to join, and realized that I should have left my last row of the provisional waste thread begining as a garter row (it was stockinette). This is where brain started failing me. Knowingly, brain says just reverse. I did, but somewhere in the process I reversed again! So what I ended up with was a *beautiful* join as far as pattern continuity, but in stockinette rather than garter stitch. (picture 2) Didn't really show up in the double ladder or faggotting areas, but it did in that couple of stitches of plain area between the sets of 3-drop triangles. I said to myself, it's really good although not perfect. I take out the waste threads. I look at it again. I say to myself again, but it's bothering me a little more. I photo it (picture 3), and look at it. I say to myself that if I am very careful about following the grafting thread back to the point with a contrast thread, I can rework it. If I don't try, I will never know. 2 hours later, and the yarn in that area worse for the wear of many joins that were far worse, I finally left it with one that was ok but not as good as what I originally had. (picture 4) So live and learn. I liked the idea with begining and ending with the waste thread in pattern, and will try that technique again next chance I have. Meantime onward and upward.
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