learning curve

Remember this shawl? I finally finished it on Saturday night. Our parish priest had agreed to bless it at a church service, but it had to be complete to be blessed. As I intended to give it to the recipient on Sunday afternoon at a family function, my feet were to the proverbial fire, which is the only way I seem to be able to get things done. (Doubtless, if he had agreed to bless it unfinished, I would have been weaving in the ends just before I gave it to her. Or even more likely, she would have gotten it with the ends still hanging out and the fringe unattached.)

I learned quite a lot with this shawl.

I learned I really don't like to knit with boucle. As this blog is my witness, I will never, ever knit a sweater, or anything else for that matter, in boucle ever again.

I learned that if you use large needles to save time, you do get a drapey, lacey effect, but it is extremely hard to see if you drop a stitch. I swear I knit this shawl two times over, by the time I frogged out all my dropped stitches, so the time savings was an illusion.

I learned how to attach beads to knitting. Ten glass beads were attached on each side at the end of the shawl, so the recipient could use them as a rosary if she chose, with a single silver bead at the end, one saying "peace" and the other saying "faith."

I learned that some bead stores are more welcoming and helpful to knitters than others.

I learned how to attach fringe.

I learned how nerve-wracking it is to come within three yards of running out of yarn for a project, despite the fact that I bought an extra skein of yarn just in case.

I learned how to fix bleeding dye (I hope). This yarn made me very nervous, as it turned my fingers and needle tips blue every time I worked with it. Thanks to a tip from Margo, I used the dye fixative from Dharma Trading Company. The water was clear on the last rinse and I hope it holds!

I learned that I need to learn more about taking pictures of my finished work.

Most of all, I learned it is a very powerful thing to knit something prayerfully for someone specific. It was lovely to see it up on the altar on Sunday morning as it was blessed. It was even more wonderful to give it the person it was intended for, after all this time.