Today’s post brought to you by the letter “W”

Because it’s about WWKIP and a White shrug that I started on Wednesday to be done in time for a Wedding that Weekend… yeah, I’m pretty sure I think I’m a little cleverer than I actually am.

Anyhow, so I think I’ll start with the shrug. You see, I was out on Tuesday getting something for my Mom at the craft store (bad move on my mom’s part) and wandering through the yarn section before I bought what she wanted and went home, when I saw this pretty shrug. And as I was looking at it and trying to figure out how it was made, I realized that I had a wedding I was going to Saturday and I would freeze in the dress I was planning on wearing unless I had some sort of shrug or shawl or something to go with it. And nothing I owned would even remotely work, and since I was in the yarn section anyways… I’m sure you can see where this was going. I walked out with two skeins of Bernant Satin Sport in white, only the vaguest idea what I was going to do with it, and only really 4 days to do whatever-it-was-going-to-be in.

Now, just as a side note for anyone who might be reading this and doesn’t actually know me, I tend to do this a lot. Not only the buying the yarn with only a vague purpose in mind (and nearly killing myself trying to find a pattern that will work) but also giving myself ridiculous due dates for said projects. Like the Christmas that I knit a tea cozy, a hat, and a long-bell-sleeved tie shrug in a week. Point being, this is nothing new. I am a self-acknowledged knitting masochist.

Anyhow, I spent the rest of Tuesday evening fiddling with various pattern stitches, both knit and crochet. I figured the yarn would be more likely to stretch far enough to do whatever-it-was that I wanted if I did something sort of lacey, but I wanted something simple too, both for speed of knitting and because the dress I wanted to wear it with already has a cherry pattern and I didn’t want a conflict of interests between the shrug pattern and the fabric pattern. At the same time I was trying to figure out exactly what it was that I wanted and (pattern stitch aside) what shapes I needed to knit to achieve it. I went to bed that night with my head spinning with ideas.

Thank goodness for Knitty! I was slightly discouraged when I woke up in the morning, because while I thought I knew generally what I needed to do, I still had no idea what pattern stitch to use. Then I was looking through my blogs and saw that the new summer knitty was up! I went there immediately, of course, and, lo and behold, there was a shrug on the very front of the issue (shetland shorty) with an absolutely gorgeous pattern stitch! I knew I couldn’t knit the actual shrug itself, for a number of reasons, but I thought I could at least steal the lace pattern. And I did, and the result was gorgeous! So with everything finally figured out, I settled in with my books on tape for a good few solid days knitting.

Fast-forward to Saturday. After various shenanigans involving safety-pins, I had determined that the main body of the shrug (which ended up being just a big rectangle) was done and bound it off. At this point what I needed was to knit cuffs and sew up a little bit of sleeve. I figured I would just need a few hours to do this, which was perfect because it was time for my sis and I to pack up and head off to the event we attended for WWKIP !

The event was hosted by the Eastside Knitter’s Guild, but there were also plenty of people there who weren’t guild members. It was a blast. Ever since I graduated from High School I haven’t really had a chance to knit in a big group like that, and I had forgotten how much fun it was. Everyone was really nice, and it was really neat to see what everyone else was working on and hear stories of past knitting adventures. We got invited to attend guild get-togethers in the future, and I picked up a couple new blogs and some ravelry usernames. No, I haven’t joined yet, but I’m seriously thinking about it. Everyone there who used the site had nothing but praise for it. If you’re interested, there’s a few pictures of me and my sis (and my shrug-in-progress) here.

Anyhow, it turned out to be the perfect amount of time to finish the shrug, and it was ready on time for the wedding later that evening! I was really pleased with it! This was one of those rare times where I see something in my head and it comes out looking exactly like I imagined… and furthermore I’m happy with how I imagined it.

So yeah, this is done in the bird’s eye stitch, knit on size 8 needles, ribbed cuffs knit on size 6. I cast on 64 stitches after determining gauge and measuring around my arm. It used to be just a rectangle with cuffs, but it stretched out a little while I was wearing it. Ummm… yeah, I guess that’s about it.

So now it’s back to socks. I’ve started on my dad’s and I’m about halfway done with the leg of it… being realistic, I think my goal is to have them done by the end of the month. If I can finish them sooner, great, but I think I know myself better than that.

~ by gwynsully on June 17, 2008.