Sometimes, my brain makes up obstacles for itself and I self-impose these barriers on myself. Such is the way with this simple lace shawl, the Swallowtail. The Swallowtail Shawl pattern was sitting in my Ravelry queue for over two years and now that I’ve finished it, I don’t know why it took me so long. Maybe I was waiting for the perfect yarn, or maybe I was thinking it would be difficult… I don’t know. But I’ve done it and it was fun AND easy to knit. I even knit the nupps on the Greyhound bus to and from Whistler.
The Simple Things shawlette here was knit by my mother, intrepid new-ish knitter. She’s always excited to show me her new projects and, seriously, she knits so fast. She’ll leave the studio with yarn one afternoon and three days later, she’ll show up with a new scarf. But she can also be a little timid about new things… like this whole top-down triangular shawl technique. But MH’s Simple Things pattern really makes things quite easy and I think my mom’s got the hang of it now. She’s knit another one in Merino Silk DK in Violet Hill… but I think she took that to London with her.
What I found quite eye-opening was that variegated ‘lace’ wasn’t as horrid as I thought it might be. In fact, I quite like it here in this case where the pattern features mostly stockinette rather than complex lace. I’m also really pleased with how the golden yellow bits are spread out quite evenly and not pooly or blotchy.
Simple things like writing these blog posts or my email newsletter take me forever (okay, like 4 hours). I don’t know why they take me so long, honestly. If someone can answer me that, I’d love to know. It’s not even that I don’t have things to share. It’s just that I think I make everything so massive and unmanageable in my mind that it becomes a mountain. Oh, wait, there’s a saying for that… making a mountain out of a molehill. Ohh, I see… that means Wiki says I have cognitive distortion. In any case, I need to stop saying things like “can’t” or “that’s too hard” and just believe that everything is easy, manageable and doable.
Your Swallowtail is exquisite and I just love the colour.
Thank you so much, Holli! The pattern itself is pretty exquisite! :P
Your Swallowtail is exquisite and I just love the colour.
Thank you so much, Holli! The pattern itself is pretty exquisite! :P
I love the Swallowtail! I’m making one with beads in lieu of nupps right now.
When I find myself going crazy about something, I take a deep breath and just ask, “What’s the next step?”
I love the Swallowtail! I’m making one with beads in lieu of nupps right now.
When I find myself going crazy about something, I take a deep breath and just ask, “What’s the next step?”
I agree with your happiness about how the variegated yarn turned out in Simple Things. That’s a pattern that is already in my Queue! Great to see it work with a variegated yarn.
P.S. Thanks for speaking at Northern Voice! It was a great talk!
I agree with your happiness about how the variegated yarn turned out in Simple Things. That’s a pattern that is already in my Queue! Great to see it work with a variegated yarn.
P.S. Thanks for speaking at Northern Voice! It was a great talk!
I love both shawls! the colors on the Simple Things are fantastic. :)
I love both shawls! the colors on the Simple Things are fantastic. :)