Darjeeling Shawl from Yarning for Ewe -

What I like about Ewe...

As I start this Darjeeling Shawl from Yarning for Ewe, it has occurred to me how this piece reflects a variety of my knitting preferences.

I’ve made no secret of my displeasure with triangle shawls that start at the narrow end.  Those final rows feel insufferably long, and the bind off becomes a test of my all-too-lacking patience.  This has a bit of that, but not entirely.  The triangle you create is only the center of the shawl.  Further on in the pattern you get a fascinating lace trim that goes around the two sides of the triangle (called the “legs”—I looked it up).

Pondering my resistance to the “point-up” shawl (the opposite of a “top down” sweater, I suppose), I did come up with a silver lining.  With only a single stitch to cast on, you get underway right away. I’ve done shawls where step one was casting on hundreds of stitches, and that’s no fun, either.  At least this way you’re off and running from the very first minute you pick up the needles.

It’s a good thing this is a marvelous feeling fiber, because even the lovely loopy yarn overs at the end of each row can’t save me from the monotonous yards of garter stitch.  I’m desperately thankful for my continental skills here.  And just as grateful there’s no purling involved—I’d be no end of grumpy if I had to create this triangle in stockinette.

Still, I stitch on.  I’ll probably look back fondly on the simplicity of this first section while my brain is hurting from the lace pattern.