Color Affection Shawl from Bliss Yarns - Day 5

We meet again, enemy mine...

Here it is again, my knitting nemesis, the uber-long final row.  I love shawls, I wear them all the time--they’re practically a trademark for me--but the ones that start from the top town always make me nuts.  I’m not an especially patient person, and when a shawl starts with a five-stitch row and ends with a gazillion-stitch row, bad things happen.  I think those final rows took me 15 minutes each, even with my speedy continental skills.  Doing a patient bind-off--a crucial bind off like this one?--well, that may require a glass of wine.  I admit it: I’m nervous I’ll botch this at the finish line.

The trouble with this shawl is that you can’t really see how it’s coming out.  The entire time you are working on it, it is arching in a curve that is opposite how it will eventually sit on your shoulders.  The curved end is forced straight on your needles, and no one (sane) has a set of circ’s long enough to see how the outer edge looks all laid out.  You can’t judge this one until it’s off the needles.  The control freak in me hates this kind of dynamic.  I need to know I won’t cringe when I get it off my needles, and that’s not yet possible.  See, I told you knitting was like life.

A few thoughts as I finish this up:

• I do love the colors I have--all Valentine-y red and such--but think solids in contrasting colors really are the best hue choice.  I’m still playing with the idea of a red,white, and blue version.
• This makes excellent “watching” knitting--TV and such --but wielding the three balls for the middle section makes it a poor choice for out of the house knitting unless you’re better at multi-ball wrangling than I am.
• Take some time and research the various top-edge coping mechanisms other knitters have tried and see what you think might suit you.  I don’t know how mine came out yet, but I’ll try and give a full report next episode.  Stay tuned!