This weekend, the Aeolian Shawl crept into my heart and stole it. I am in love with it. It was most unexpected as we had a precarious start together.
When I started knitting her about two weeks ago, I chose to start the pattern without swatching. This itself was not a problem.
However, she showed wilfulness by letting the metal needles kept fall out of her delicate lace stitches and I had to restart several times as the stitches dropped. I have not knitted with lace weight for a while and the skills had taken a holiday. They did come back refreshed though!
I kept on loosing the stitches off the second needle when I was beading the stitch on the first as there was little knitted fabric to hold them there and the metal is very slippery. I solved this by using a needle cap to secure the stitches while I beaded. I still did not like the metal needles though.
As I was knitting kelmscott, I put her aside to complete this and while it was blocking this weekend, we were reunited and got along grandly. On Saturday, I sat down for a couple of hours with her and fell deeply in love. She is a gracious knit and an easy pattern, though not quick if one is beading her. By Saturday evening She had grown substantially.
I love the slowness of the process and the need to stop every few stitches to place the beads. There is a timeless rhythm that flows as her beauty is created and each stitch is thoughtful and mindful. I just love this. Last night, I had reached the first row of Nupps - the small back dots at the bottom of the fabric.
However, there is the part of me that says that part of the beauty of something handmade, is all those uneven bits that show the process of the making. It is all part of the beauty.
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