On Sunday Yannick and I finally did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.  Jakob is already 16.5 months old and will have a little sibling soon, and we still hadn’t taken a child/infant CPR course.  I’d registered us for one when Jakob was about 3 months old, but each weekend it was scheduled, something came up that we couldn’t avoid, and we had to keep putting it off.  I’m so glad we finally took care of it, we both learned a lot, and it was especially gratifiying for me to see that some of the stuff Yannick would pass off as fact isn’t actually the case (or at least, to his credit, has been changed since his last CSST course 8+ years ago). *

The course was from 9-5 at a local hospital, and I had the feeling there would be knitting time around all the hands-on, practical stuff.  I debated bringing my current work in progress- socks for Robyn’s Robyn’s Nest’s November club kit…but figured it might be rude if I started spreading out my pattern in front of me.  I know I work, listen and retain information better when my hands are busy, but it might appear rude.  I mentally wracked my stash for some unfinished object I could bring with that had an easy repeat, or miles of stockinette stitch.  I was at the point of finding a new project to cast on when I remembered my Silk Rumple shawl.  Perfect!  A simple 2 row repeat made it mindless enough to allow me to look up and not have anyone think I wasn’t paying attention.  I brought it with and by the end of the class I was about 28 repeats short of a completed shawl.  I didn’t have the heart to put it back into the depths of my stash when it was so close to being finished, so yesterday, between Jakob’s nap time and a night to myself on the couch, I kept at it.  Now not only do I have another finished project, but I also have the weight of a long-lingering “ufo” crossed off my list.  (And Maaike can get her needles back, since those of you who remember this shawl might remember I had to borrow her 6mm Options needles, as they were the only needles sharp enough to get into the k2togs with the bouclé-y silk yarn).

This detail shows the simple k2tog/yo pattern.  The colors were accurate on my computer at home, but these photos seem a little dark here at my work computer.  Hopefully your monitor settings are better than mine!

The shawl turned out longer than I’d thought, which is a relief.  When Yannick brought me the yarn, what had appeared to be a single skein was actually 2 smaller skeins held together.  I knew that the tail ends of where the two skeins met would be the approximate center of the shawl, and was worried that it wouldn’t be wide enough for me.  In the end it makes a slightly skimpy shawl or a perfect scarf.  I am slightly tempted to pin the edges together and try it on as a shrug, but I don’t think I have quite the body for a shrug.  Luckily that is something I can do at any time, and in the meantime I have a very pretty silk shawl I can wear easily.

It feels so good to have another project completed!

Details:

Yarn: Silk Rumple by Fleece Artist’s Hand Maiden.

Needles: 6mm KnitPicks Options circulars

Pattern: Bias Shawl pattern from the yarn’s ball band

Timeline: February 1 to October 6 2008

All the info and more details/photos on Ravelry.  (Project link)

*p.s. to Julie, Jackie, or Debbie…you’ll be glad to know that the whole eye+spoon or mouth thing?  Balony.  Put a paper cup over the eye to keep dirt away and call an ambulance, no funky Mcgyver techniques allowed!