jack in the pulpit shawl | Little Miss Drama Pants

September 6, 2010
by lilMDP 9 Comments

I Totally Effed That Oh

I FINISHED THE JACK IN THE PULPIT 3/4 SHAWL!!!!!!!1!!!1!!!!!!

What? What did you think I was talking about?

I honestly did not understand just how soul sucking a knitted edging could be until I started this edging. Don’t get me wrong, this shawl is beautiful and besides one mistake I found, it appears to be perfect and I could not be more proud of myself for this shawl. But the edging was no where near as fun as the body. The plus side, however, is that the edging is super easy to memorize and despite the beads involved, was really quite mindless knitting.

I know, right? I NEVER thought I would ever put lace and mindless knitting in the same sentence, but there you have it.

Anyway, this weekend ended up being a knitting of the lace edging marathon. In what equaled out to about 2.5 – 3 full days of knitting, I managed to finish the last 1/3 of edging, wove in all my ends* as soon as I bound off and immediately soaked and blocked** this puppy.

I totally cleaned my sink just so I could soak this shawl

FYI: My bed is a KING. (TV remote for (more) scale.)

Obligatory Close Up

The best part? I mean besides finishing it? Tencel dries REALLY quickly. Especially if you have the ceiling fan blowing full tilt while you block it. Which means MOAR PHOTOS!!

This shawl is way longer than my wingspan.

This shawl also goes great with pajamas.

Full Disclosure: Yes, I am totally in my pajamas outside in my front yard. I will henceforth be known as “that weird lady who takes pictures of herself in her front yard.” Also, that is not a weirdly placed tag peeking out of the back of my top. That would be the top of my tattoo. It’s a dragon. [/End Disclosure]

I am EXTREMELY happy with this shawl and I’m also EXTREMELY happy that it’s done.

Also, here’s what’s left over.

I’m pretty sure there’s enough left over for a shawlette.

Would I knit another one of these? Honestly? No. One is enough for me. And you can bet your ass I will NOT be gifting this to anyone. IT’S MINE MINE MINE! But I thoroughly enjoyed knitting it even if the edging did get to me.

I would like to thank The Dresden Files, The Dollhouse Season 1 and The Guild Seasons 1 – 4 and Netflix for getting me through the final 1/3 of edging. And also my husband for entertaining himself with the PS3 while I completely ignored him for a bulk of the weekend.

*I rarely ever weave in the ends right away.
**I almost NEVER soak and block the day I finish a project.

July 27, 2010
by lilMDP 2 Comments

In Which I Have A Small Epiphany

I’ve been dutifully knitting away on my Jack in the Pulpit Shawl. One row at a time. And somewhere along the way, I lost my infatuation with the shawl. I found myself knitting out of duty. I was knitting one stitch at a time, then one row at a time. It’s not really fun, but I’m determined to finish this shawl.

And the whole time I’m knitting all I can think about is all the other projects I could be knitting or starting and I’m just chaffing at the bit to be DONE with this damn shawl, already! And that’s when it hit me. I was relaxed. And despite my inner raging monologue, I was actually content. And strangely enough, enjoying myself without even realizing it.

I think that’s what the beauty of knitting is all about. Even when you think you don’t want to work on the project you’re dutifully knitting away on, the meditative quality of knitting lulls you into enjoying what you’re doing at that very moment even though your project que is 20 years long by the time you’re done. And honestly, isn’t that part of the fun? Figuring out what you’re next project is going to be?

But the really neat thing? When you actually knit on the project you want to finish? It gets closer to getting done.

July 21, 2010
by lilMDP 5 Comments

Procrastination, Thy Name Is…

I really have to wonder why I make bold statements like that last post because it only causes me to want to do the OPPOSITE of what I say I’m going to do. Hence, me blogging about procrastinating about the things I need to do instead of, you know, DOING THEM.

And I seem to only want to knit socks. And also use some of my handspun yarn for a new project. Oh, and maybe I should spin some yarn because my wheel is sadly being neglected. Also, there is all this yarn I’ve bought in the last few months. It’s just a crying shame that I haven’t knit with any of it yet. And then there’s this other shawl that I want to knit because ESC bought me the pattern (Ravely link) for my birthday and I have the perfect yarn for it.

And, and, and…

OK fine. I’m going. I’M GOING.

But in my defense? KNITTING BLACK HOLE. WITH BEADS.

July 19, 2010
by lilMDP 1 Comment

In Which I Give Myself A Deadline

Remember how a million plus one years ago I started knitting the Jack in the Pulpit 3/4 shawl? And remember how I kept promising I would finish it yesterday? Well, it’s still not done.

I know. I suck.

So I decided that I needed a kick in the pants to finish the shawl. And I was trying to figure out what might motivate me when I decided to check out the SAFF website. Which, by the way, they redesigned and it looks awesome! And that’s when I remembered the Skein, Garment and Fiber Art Competition.

You know where this is going, right? I have decided that to give myself a swift kick in the pants, I will finish this shawl so I can enter it in the contest. What I am going to need, however, is for you guys to help me stay on track and when necessary, brow beat me to FINISH THE DAMN SHAWL ALREADY!

So if you’ll excuse me, I have a shawl to go and finish knitting.

Also? I think this makes me (more) officially batshit insane.

June 13, 2010
by lilMDP 3 Comments

Never Ending Edging

I’ve bee knitting on this shawl on and off for over a year now. Or maybe 20 years. That’s how it feels now that I’m working on the edging. Turns out the edging is HALF THE SHAWL. Good thing it’s pretty. And shiny. And the edging pattern is easy to memorize. Because otherwise? I would probably go mad(der than I already am) from trying to finish it.

I know that once it’s finished and blocked out it will look less like boiled ass lace and will be beautiful and look more like this.

But there is still so much left to go.

I haven’t even made it to the end of the first repeat yet.

::weep::

I think this shawl’s edging created the knitting black hole. I knit and knit and knit and I always seem to be in the exact same place.

*sigh*

Good thing it’s beautiful. And I like to knit. Though sometimes I can’t help but wonder just how much insanity there is in knitting.

October 17, 2009
by lilMDP Leave a comment

Optimistic

I’m currently working on the 4th of 12 rows for the 9th repeat of the Jack in the Pulpit 3/4 Shawl. This is what it looks like right now:

Yup. A puddle of purple/blue yarn with some shiny bits in it. Upside down. Because mostly that’s how I see it. Riveting, no? OK, here’s a close up:

I still have 8 more rows of the 9th repeat,? 12 rows of the 10th repeat, 28 rows of the border and 8 rows for the bind off. That’s 56 more rows (not including the row I’m currently on). I have until Tuesday to finish all that and then Wednesday to block it in order to be able to wear it at SAFF.

I know this doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s a shawl. That keeps growing. To get a better idea of what lies ahead, let’s look at this in terms of beads. There will be 135 beads used in the 9th repeat. 150 in the 10th repeat. Not so bad, right? Then we get to the 28 row border. With lots of beads. How many beads, you ask? If my calculator is right, there will be 627 beads used in the border. SIX HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN BEADS.

::blink blink::

I should probably just keep knitting.

I can totally pull this off, right?

October 1, 2009
by lilMDP 6 Comments

Let the Madness Begin

I am a half a cupcake away from being done with the October cupcakes. They need to be done by next Thursday. I can totally finish it by then. Easy peasy.

The problem challenge is that I have exactly 21 days before I leave for SAFF! Which means I have exactly 20 days to finish knitting (including blocking) the Jack in the Pulpit 3/4 Shawl I stole from Julie bought at Stitches South to show off at SAFF!

I am currently in the process of ripping back the 6th repeat of 10 repeats because of a stupid error on my part. Said error? Dropping a stitch. I’m knitting with 100% Tencel. Need I say more? *SOB*

Oh yeah, did I mention the beads? Because there are a lot of them. Oh, and also the border. I have to knit that too. With beads.

This is totally doable, right?

May 18, 2009
by lilMDP 7 Comments

Meeting Deadlines & the Shawl

It really is a great feeling of accomplishment to meet a deadline. Especially when it comes to knitting. For me, this was an extra sweet deadline to meet for two reasons. One, I was knitting with my arch nemesis, teh deadly cotton. And two, this was a very special gift for my old roommate, who is expecting her first child. I wanted to give her something handmade and something that she could use for years to come. I was really REALLY glad I went with wash cloths after seeing the heirloom baby sweaters she received from her husband’s grandmother. I wouldn’t have wanted to compete!?

Now that I’ve gotten this project out of the way, I can focus on my Jack in the Pulpit shawl. Which is a very good thing, because you see all this? This is just the middle section of the shawl. I just finished the 4the of 10 repeats of the meat of the shawl.

It’s getting ripped back to the end of the first repeat. Because of this:

In just a few minutes I’m going to rip this bad boy back and hopefully will be able to find all the beads when I’m done. I guess now I’m off to figure out how to put in a lifeline after the fact. Anyone got some good tutorials?

Little Miss Drama Pants

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