The Fog Shawl from The Fiber Universe--Day 4

Feelings...

I’ve decided.  I’m done.  

If the criteria is “you can’t stomach it any more,” I’m there.  I’ve been knitting through so many back loops my eyes are blurring.  It’s time.  If this goes on how I feel, I feel ready to be done.  Of course, this is a top-down shawl, so I would have felt ready to be done long before I was truly done. And for me, the only thing that would feel worse than “not done” would be the feeling I’d get if the thing ended up too small for my liking.

Wow, I really am feeling all the feels on this one, aren’t I?

Of course, Bella had to inspect

Time for some science.  Or at least some theoretical visuals.  I laid the shawl out overtop a finished shawl I already own, whose size I like very much.  This Fog is currently is about two-thirds the size of the finished right-sized Phoenix shawl.  To me, this affirms that I’m at a safe enough place to stop.  If it doubles in size, I’ll have a lovely big shawl.  If it grows less than that, I should still be okay.  Only I do know how to block a shawl within a inch of its life, so I’m feeling confident I can stretch this one to an ideal size.  At this point, I don’t think it can come out too small.

I’ve learned a lot about my control-freak nature on this project.  I need directions.  Specific directions.  I can punt in many areas of my life, but in knitting, I need to know it will turn out right.  I want to have solid trust that the directions I follow will produce the outcome I desire.  

As such, this “recipe” has taught me the limits of my knitting improvisation.  And those limits are rather small.  Then again, my life calls for a great deal of creativity in other areas, so being able to depend on my knitting makes a kind of compensatory sense.  Were I an accountant, maybe I could go hog wild with my knitting.  Goodness, wouldn’t that be a thing to see?

In any case, I’m settling in tonight for a very long stint of Jenny’s Incredibly Stretchy bind off to ensure I can stretch this baby out.  Stay tuned—I’m feeling like it’s going to be wonderful.