I'm Marching as Fast as I Can

Soon after I finished my Garter Stitch Jacket my thoughts turned to my languishing Muir shawl, begun so lovingly last January. Because the fine, laceweight yarn and 32-row chart required close attention I found myself working on this project in fits and starts during the past year, knitting several repeats over the course of a few days, then ignoring it for months at a time. I had already decided to devote the rest of March to finishing up some UFO’s when I heard about “March to the Finish” on Stash and Burn. Perfect, another KAL to provide some motivation.

Like many neglected projects, whether knitterly or otherwise, once we finally get around to them they are done in no time and we are left wondering why we put them off for so long. Muir was no exception. I think the secret is giving them your undivided attention; the problem is, I don’t usually have that much staying power and am easily distracted by things new and exciting.
In any case, Muir is finally knit and I spent about an hour this morning blocking it. It was too long for the kitchen table so I ended up laying out my blocking mats on the floor. As luck would have it, the finished measurements corresponded almost exactly to the size of fourteen blocking mats laid out two by two so it took very little time and effort to block the shawl into shape.

Against the beige background of the blocking mats it’s pretty hard to see the leaf and eyelet pattern so I am anxious to see how it looks once it’s dry. Even though the overall tone is taupe, the yarn has subtle bits of rose and green throughout.

Another project I’ve been stalled on is Bellatrix (Ravelry link) for February’s SKA challenge. I began the socks on a bit of a whim; having already completed two February challenges I didn’t really need another pair but I couldn’t resist. After a couple of pattern repeats I decided to frog back to the cuff and reknit them , this time purling every other row to better set off the undulating waves. Even though the pattern wasn’t difficult, or maybe because the pattern wasn’t difficult, I found these slow going and was soon distracted by other projects. However, determined to finish them before the March 31st deadline, I gave them a little love this week and lo and behold, they’re done.

With a full third of March remaining I am confident that I can complete at least one more UFO before the end of the month. My current focus is the Gail shawl I started last November. Probably better classed as a WIP, this project is really more of a guilty pleasure than a chore, begun as a distraction from Christmas knitting and neglected only out of sense of obligation to other, more pressing knits. Now that we’ve been reunited, the shawl is working up in record time. Each and every stitch of the exquisitely hand-dyed, merino-seacell yarn is a pleasure to knit and I predict that this is one project that will end long before I grow tired of it.

But new, exciting knits are just around the corner. This Wednesday I celebrated my 45th birthday and besides receiving several skeins of sock yarn, I have put some of my gift money towards even more yarn, including this merino-seacell to make the new Aeolian shawl. And as if that weren’t enough, the first installment of Embrace the Lace ships next week.

I hope that on this, the first day of a new season, that Spring is indeed springing in your neck of the woods. Whatever the weather, enjoy your weekend.