This pattern has been in my queue for sooooo long. Basically since it came out. Typically, I don’t go all starry eyed over lace shawl patterns. I mean, I like them. They’re fine. I’ve made a fair number of them in my knitting carrier. But I’ve never actually fallen in love with a pattern before that I really wanted to make for myself. Usually it happens the other way around, with me wanting to make a lace shawl - any lace shawl - for someone as a gift and then searching through patterns to find one I like. With this pattern, I saw it and was instantly in love with the final product and wanted it all for my own. The lace is just so unique! And I love that it has a lovely garter stitch section as well as the intriguing lace bits.
Nevertheless, it took me quite awhile to actually prioritize it in the queue and get around to casting on. Then when I did…well I had a bit of a false start. I don’t remember exactly when it was that I first attempted this pattern. Several years ago at least. I can’t even really remember what yarn I first attempted it with. But in reading through the charts and beginning my first rows, I just couldn’t do it. It was beyond my skill range. The yarn I was using may also have not been suitable. Could I have tried really hard and gotten through it? Maybe. Probably yes. But after starting and restarting several times and repeatedly ending up with a mysteriously wrong stitch count - mysterious meaning I had no idea where I’d gone wrong and wasn’t able to “read my work” to figure out where it had happened - I got frustrated. So I filed the pattern away and moved on to something else. Lord knows there has never been a shortage of projects in my queue to pottle along with.
I think this is something I often forget about knitting. That it actually does take time and practice to advance your skill level. Sure, it’s just different combinations of knits, purls, decreases, and decreases along with the very basic ability to read a pattern. And you actually can advance pretty quickly from being a complete beginner to making beautiful, varied, and impressive work (never fear beginners!).. Cables, colorwork, lace. They are all completely learnable for a beginner in a fairly quick amount of time, keeping in mind of course that “quick” is a relative term. However, on the other hand, one’s wrists, hands, fingers, and mind do learn through repetition and challenge, and you do invariably get better the longer you do it. Muscle memory in your hands. And also actual memory. Like the kind in your brain. I can now simply read “sl1k2togpsso" and know what it means and what I have to do with the stitches when I see it pop up in a pattern.
So this time, I decided to give it another go and see how things went. It’s just too lovely to let go of. I’ve had this yellow-green yarn in my stash for awhile. It was purchased at a little yarn shop in Cincinnati while on a work trip at least two years ago. It’s Classic Elite Silky Alpaca in the Cameroon colorway. I first used this yarn for an Ishbel for my aunt Sandy. I absolutely loved working with it and was very pleased with the fabric it created. So when I saw it on sale at the week shop in Cincinnati I scooped up two balls. To be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure about the color when I first bought it. I’m going to call it chartreuse, although it’s probably a bit too green to be a true chartreuse (I just really like that as a color name). That’s probably why it sat in my stash for so long. Then, I picked up a Jackie cardigan at Goodwill one day in basically the exact same color. And then proceeded to wear it with just about every outfit for a week. It’s a surprisingly versatile color. So I dug this out of the stash and decided it needed to become something ASAP.
A couple notes about this pattern. First, I LOVE It. It’s fabulous. It’s the Rock Island Shawl by Jared Flood for Brooklyn Tweed. It’s very clearly written and easy to follow. Naturally. Construction-wise, this pattern was something new for me and I ended up really liking it. Instead of starting at the center bottom of the triangle and increasing stitches from there, it starts with working the entire edging first as a separate piece. Now, that’s a whole lot of knitting. It’s huge, and took what felt like forever. But once it’s finished, you’re decreasing stitches from there, so the rows get faster and faster each time. This is exactly opposite to the center-bottom construction where it starts out super, super fast and then feels like each row takes an hour at the end. Which is kind of a nice change. From the edging, you pick up stitches for the bulk of the shawl and then decrease to end at the center bottom of the triangle. You’ve got to get through the spider-web like lace first, but then it’s smooth sailing until the end with just a simple garter stitch for the majority of the triangle. I had a couple false starts with the difficult lace portion as I was getting used to working lace on both sides, but since the section begins with several rows of garter stitch between it and the edging I was able to easily rip back and start again. Once I got into it, it became very rhythmic and by the second pattern repeat I no longer had to stare at the chart. What a feeling of accomplishment!
The end fabric has not disappointed either. I’ve worn in a ton already, usually just wrapped tightly around my neck like a scarf. I’ve not been precious about it either - stuffing it into my purse and what not - and the shape has held up really well. I’ll probably have to re-block at some point, but that’s to be expected. I am 110% in love with the finished product and am so happy I didn’t give up on this pattern. Hurray for my very first for-me shawl!
