Guys, I love Finish-itis!! In the past few days I’ve finished not one but two long-term WIPs! First, my Fall Shaelyn shawl. I am so pleased with how this shawl came out. The yarn is The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga, colorway Painted Damsel, held double which makes an incredibly lush fabric when knit on size US 10.5 needles.

This has been hibernating forever because I knew I was running short on yarn and would not be able to complete another repeat of the entire chart, but I still had a bunch of yarn to use up, so I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I let it sit, and sit, and sit, I wasn’t comfortable just winging it. When I picked it up again on Tuesday, I tossed in a lifeline just in case and went at it. This, I think, says a lot about how I’ve cahnged as a knitter over the past year. Before, the pattern felt like some kind of sacred voodoo magic that I was afraid to mess with. Now I modify at will! I am knitter! Hear me… quietly click my needles?

I ended up working another repeat of the lace section only (not the stockinette), added plain knit stitches as needed to the beginning and middle of the rows so that the lace pattern aligned correctly, and increased 2 sts on the wrong side rows throughout to give it a wider shape. After that I knit two sets of a row of eyelets (*YO, k2tog*) and a garter stitch ridge and bound off using Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which is fantastic for shawl edges, btw. In retrospect, I would’ve liked it just as well if I had left out the eyelet rows and knit a bit more garter stitch but no matter. It’s done! And I only had 2 grams of yarn left. Love when it works out like that. 🙂

 
My second FO is a pair of socks, woooooohoo! Just in time, too, since it’s been getting chilly at night. These socks were the May 2011 shipment of the BMFA Rockin’ Sock Club. The colorway is Maia, which I adore, and the pattern is Transition Point by Star Athena.
The pattern involves some lovely seed stitch, which I think is underutilized as far as stitches go, and a lot of traveling twisted stitches. It’s neat the way everything twists and turns. I modified this one, as well, changing the foot so that the slipped stitches make a ‘V’ across the top and the rest of the toe is knit in stockinette. It mirrors what happens on the back of the sock and I like the dainty look it gives them.

I can’t believe that both of those projects were in progress for over a year. There’s no good reason for that kind of dragging out! Except these socks required charts and much fiddling, and fiddly charted socks do not get knit very quickly over here, since socks are my travel project and I hate referring to charts when I’m on the move. (Excuses, excuses…) Now, which long-suffering WIP to conquer next?

Year of Projects progress update (7 down, 43 to go):

1. WIPs: 2/10 finished, 1/8 left in progress
2. SIPs: 1/5  finished
3. New Projects: 1/14 finished, 2/13 left in progress
4. New Socks: 2/6 in progress
5. Of My Own Design: 3/16 finished, 2/13 left in progress