Presenting (Finally) the Alpine Scarf...

... after a truamatic start to this lace project (never have I experienced so much trouble with a lace pattern in all my life) due to my inability to read a lace chart properly!

Here is what's left of my cone of French 4ply silk from Colourmart that Mum purchased last year for me to knit this shawl as a 70th birthday gift for her cousin's wife next week (April 17th).

The silk felt quite rough whilst knitting after a couple of hours I could feel were the yarn had been running through my fingers however, after washing it has become softer and drapier....

I purchased the cone as 150g of yarn so thought the cone weighed 44g it would appear that I actually got 154g of yarn as when I have wound the remainder off I found I have 4g left; I could have done another 2 repeats of the leaft motif!!! I think not ;o)

Here she is blocking as you can see I have done 6 repeats of the centre motif rather than the stated 4 to make it wider and have worked an extra 10 repeats of the motif, working 47 instead of 37 to make it longer so it is more shawl like than scarf like.....

If anyone wants to do 6 repeats of the centre motif here are the stitch counts I used....

• Cast on 157 sts
• After the 1st 8 gt-st rows, knit your 25 border sts at each side as stated, then knit 107 in the centre
• When it comes to increasing on row 8 of the gt-st (before starting the centre motifs) increase 5 sts evenly across the centre 107 sts
  

You will then be knitting:
6 gt-st / 19 diamond border / 6 repeats of centre motif / 19 diamond border / 6 gt-st

Below are close ups of the patterns....

and finally the final article a modest but respectible 25" x 70" :o)

Hello, I'm Still here...

I know I haven't blogged for nearly a month... but TBH I haven't felt like it and I haven't really had a lot to show for it... my knitting mojo just seam to get up and go, perhaps it was post-Christmas burn out from knitting I don't know :o(

I have been knitting but just not seaming to produce anything....

Anyway since my last post the Alpine Scarf from VLT has at long last made some progress.... as of this morning, bottom border and 3 repeats of the centre motif....

and a close up, especially for Soo , without whom I would not be this far and the cone of silk would be on eBay for sale!!! yes it got really bad....

I 'faffed' about since the last post and eventually did one repeat of the bottom border but wasn't happy so ripped it off the needles and stared again..... a week last Sunday (24th) which I m now referring to as 'Grey Sunday' I got back to having done one repeat at 8.30am I had reached row 5 of the 2nd bottom panel repeat... something was wrong... I knew the SK2P should group together a particular set of stitches... it didn't!!! I studied and studied, couldn't see were I had gone wrong I tinked back a couple or rows everything was fine so in the end I ripped it back to the garter stitch border. Again I got to the 5th row and the stitches didn't line up so I pulled it back again... I was getting a tad distraught by now... I emailed Soo

My problem I should have mentioned when I did row 1 and 5 of the chart was that I always had 1 less stitch at the end rather than being able to do K2tog I had to K. This doesn't seem to throw the pattern out until you get to row 5 of the 2nd repeat were things just don't quite line up properly....

After exchanging emails with Soo and her offering me her phone number I re-read her last email and **ping** the light went on.... and no more K just K2tog :o) by this time its 4pm on Sunday so we rip back to the garter stitch yet again...

What had I been doing wrong???

This is so silly it's unbelievably silly and embarrassing.... the only thing I can liken it to is doing a crossword... you read the clue, you get the answer but it doesn't fit... you repeatedly read the clue your answer is definitely right the grid must be wrong... you leave the crossword go back to it re-read the clue get a different answer and hey presto it fits and not only that it fits with all the other clues that intersect that one!!!!

Yes I know I'm putting off telling you what I did wrong :o(

OK Rather than reading the chart all the way across from right to left I was just reading the pattern repeat for the top and bottom borders... as those of you with the book will know or can go check the chart for the diamond edging has bracketed sections saying top and bottom borders, left border and right border etc.... well I decided that I should only be doing the pattern repeat for the bottom and not reading the whole of the chart because that bit was bracketed right border!!!

OK I told you it was silly.... but it didn't end there.....

By the end of Sunday evening 9pm I had now managed to complete 1.5 repeats of the bottom border, yeahh back were I started at 8.30am 12 hours earlier....

Monday came and went nicely my friend Janet and our god-daughter came to visit... I decided that I could get the last 8 rows of the pattern in before tea and do another 16 rows after tea.... I got to the last few stitches of row 16 and I dropped a stitch and it ran all the way down to the lifeline 16 rows below - the air was blue- so I was now further behind at 6pm on Monday than at 9pm Sunday Agghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

all DH could say was "you should have put your lifeline in half way through the repeat" - isn't hindsight wonderful!!!!

I did not touch it again that evening.... I managed to complete the 2nd repeat in the following days and this Monday (3rd) I managed to finally complete the 3rd repeat and the transition rows. It was only Tuesday that I finally managed to start the centre panel motifs....

And after all that I still have my knitting mojo, but at the moment it's a case of needing to knit it for a gift for the 17th April, I'm not hating it but am not enjoying it, I think it will be a while before every time I look at it I don't think of those wasted 2 days...

So thank you Soo without your help I wouldn't have made it this far..... you deserved your present... :o)

Less stressful knitting and a learning curve has been the Patons (UK) Sorbet top a new pattern this summer for one of last years summer yarns (70% cotton & 30% Acrylic). Quite chunky for me to knit (6mm) and a tension of 15sts x 22 rows.

I had 3 balls of the burnt orange left so opted for the contrasting ribs which I like immensely, again with hindsight I would have made the bottom rib twice as deep..... I had to lift the neck line as it originally started 2 rows after the armhole shaping which would have seen me done for indecent exposure!!!

I also knitted the body and the sleeves as far as possible in the round... another first for me as you may guess I pulled my EZ books of the shelf and having being enjoying leafing through..... It fits lovely too... DH is out so no photo of me modeling :o)))

And last but by no means least my sock knitting which has probably kept me sane through the last month... both socks have partners halfway through.....

January Round Up

Sorry it's taken so long to getting round to posting but have been quite busy on the fibre front in one way or another....

Not in any order of priority just the way I loaded the photos into blogger we'll start with the spinning.....

This is "Twilight 2" Merino that I purchased from the The Yarn Wench before Christmas to add to my stash fibre; although I am determined not to let it get out of hand, famous last words!!!!

I decided I would join the SAL on Ravelry for January which was "Snowed in colours - Angora - Fulling" as you can see I only opted for the colour theme and thought it was quite apt, Icy blues and whites with a bit of black thrown in, now despite not being a fan of black I think it makes the singles look great. Here is 2/3 of the fibre spun up and I have just the remaining 1/3 to spin then I will ply and attempt my first 3ply yarn.....

Next up is part of the 2008 new years resolution, not so much as a resolution but a promise to myself that I will try and improve upon my crochet skills.... I have been able to crochet for a while give me a hook and yarn and I can practise virtually most stitches and get a sample, try and put that into anything other than a scarf and I loose it so I always say my problem is counting not crocheting as I usually end up with not enough or too many chains left at the end of a row.....

Anyway here are my attempts so far... these are worked in Patons Jet (gloves) and Patons Inca (hat) both from the book Patons Learn to Crochet

I started with the fingerless mitts (1 ball) and then moved onto the hat (2 balls) my crocheting in the round is still not brilliant again no problem with the stitches and the principle I struggle with completing the rounds and if I don't keep count I find it difficult were the start/finish is if that makes any sense?

Next a straight forward bag in treble crochet (or double crochet for my American readers) worked in Patons 100% Cotton DK. I have to say the cotton is a fantastic yarn to crochet with and very good value at £3.35 for 100g of either DK (210m) or 4ply (330m) weight. This pattern is originally from a kit introducing how to crochet... I just thought if people could see the bag made up it might tempt some one to have a go... I really enjoyed this

Next up is the scarf "Flurry" from the book Crochet Inspirations 1 using 2 strands of the Mohair blend "Misty" this takes 4 balls all in all, and as I couldn't make my mind up about the colour I went with 1 strand of "Sky" and 1 strand of "Thunder" so I've ended up with a heathery look which I rather like; again quite a straight forward pattern but looks more difficult than it is.

The nice thing about the Misty is that despite it's 70% Mohair (30% polyamide) it didn't irritate my nose when working with it, at all unlike Rowans Kidsilk Haze and if memory serves me right it's statistics makes it a suitable substitute for that yarn: 150m / 25g; tension 18-25 x 23-34 on 3.25 - 5.00mm or US 3 - 8 and at £2.75 per ball it's a heck of a lot cheaper!!!!

Sorry you're going to have turn your head side ways..... must make Soo & Fleegle work for their photos!!!!

Last on the crocheting front is the "Chevron Scarf" from the Learn to Crochet book above, but rather than use the Jet, I've used a smaller hook and yes you guessed it Patons yarn again, but the Washed Haze Aran, which is another good yarn although I normally prefer the DK weight....

With all the striping - 6 rows to the pattern repeat I am opting for the format taken by some lace knitters when doing knitted edgings and doing 6 rows a day otherwise I would go mad cutting the yarn at the end of every row and threading or crocheting in the ends

Now to the Lace Knitting.... I know I haven't said anything about this but I have been working on this since New Year for my friend Anita aka Dream Knitting who has a had a bad back for a few weeks, and was doing this for a friend who retires at the end of February; I didn't like to mention it on my blog until I had asked her permission to do so....

Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in "Georgetown" and of course as everyone knows it's the PLT MS3 stole otherwise known as "Swan Lake". I must admit I've enjoyed doing this as I didn't know what to do after Christmas, so it filled a hole.....

With the above lace knitting complete I finally cast on my 'Heartland Shawl" in Buffalo yarn that was a birthday present from my friend Mike last April.... lovely to knit and is a heavy fingering weight yarn although the pattern says 110g of DK weight I have 186g so I will be doing more repeats than the pattern states as it says 4 repeats before starting the edging.... shown here is halfway through the 2nd repeat......

I spent 3/4 hours the other afternoon re-charting the chart that came with it as it wasn't easy to read and I knew I wouldn't be able to work comfortably with it as it was.... so those hours were well spent....

Last but not least I cast on the "Alpine Scarf" from VLT which needs to be finished for April. I'm using some French 4ply silk from Colourmart and adding in 2 extra repeats of the central motif to make it wider and I will just knit it as along as I can. I did a test sample August when the yarn arrived so I could 'play' with the yarn, so you can see were I'm going with this one, at this stage I'm halfway through the first bottom border repeat. Once I get the bottom border done I will set myself the task of 1 repeat per day.....

And lastly to say thank you to Fleegle for nominating me for the "You make my day award" I was going to nominate a few people this morning but so far everyone I thought of has already been nominated... so I for those of you who I read your blog on a regular basis, you make my day when you post......

I hope the round up of January's fibre escapades has been worth the wait and there's sufficient photos for Fleegle & Soo...

The VLT Sampler Stole

Well here as promised are the final photos of the VLT shawl. I can't quite believe it's finished if truth be known I don't think it has really sunk in yet.

This has been my biggest lace project to date and I've definitely had a love hate relationship with it at times. I know it's been on the needles since 6th April this year but it hasn't taken me all that time to knit. I had a few sessions on it between April and June and it was only then I knew if I was to complete it I would have to set a specific time aside for it so it became my Sunday & Monday knitting, aka my days off!

Once I got into this routine I quite enjoyed knitting the stole. I liked the fact there are 8 different patterns in it so it didn't get monotonous and it did give me my first introduction to Knitted Lace as opposed to Lace knitting. That first pattern repeat of 'D' was horrendous! After awhile I got used to patterning on the WRS and stopped panicing and just made sure I moved my lifeline up every few rows rather than after every pattern repat.

Details:
1550m (6 hanks & 2 skeins) of 1707 'Amarante' from Renaissance Dyeing
3.25mm Addi Lace circ

Finished size after blocking: 2' 9" x 7' 9"




The Close Up's:
Pattern B

Pattern C

Pattern D

Pattern E

Pattern F

Pattern G

Pattern H

Pattern I

Border & Edging

This is not for me but for my mum for Christmas, she chose the pattern and also the colour, she has seen bits of it when I was knitting but she hasn't seen it for awhile so she has no idea how it looks....


I quite liked the yarn once I got used to it. The service was excellent from them, when I ordered the two extra skeins a week last Sunday (from France) they arrived Tuesday. The only downside I have is that in every hank there was at least 1 knot, most hanks having 2 or 3 and in one hank I had 4 knots :o( I have to admit this has put me off using their yarn in the future which is a shame as you can see from their website they have a huge range of colours and the yarn is nice.....


Overall am quite satisfied with my achievement :o)

Monday Morning...

lets start with appologies....

sorry I haven't bloged for a while but I haven't really had anything to show and I'm not one of these people able to create interesting discussions on a topic....

sorry to fleegle as it's a photo-less post again!!!!

Just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been knitting I promise.....

I have completed the 1st sock of the Kaffee Fassett Landscape Caribbean pair, I couldn't believe I'd knit the foot so quickly but when you mainly do size 9+ socks doing a size 4 is finished before you know.... I actually rather like the colour combinations although if I was being picky I'd not have bothered putting in the greens and browns, but hey I don't have KF's colour ability or experience so who am I to complain.....

I have also started an Autumnal pair in Trekking 171; this appears to be a random blend of autumnal colours I'm praying to god that it doesn't have any semblence of a pattern or I shall have to try and match it and as the 1st two pairs of socks for my friend have been fraught with problems I could do with a nice easy knit otherwise I'm going to become paranoid about knitting socks for this particular friend!!!!

I have finished the "lacey birthday" present, it has been knit, dyed & blocked (it was finished on Friday and dyed & blocked Saturday) but the recipient's birthday isn't until Thursday and I don't think she'll be getting the present until Saturday and as she reads my blog, you know the rest....

I have almost finished the edging on the VLT stole too ***gasp***, just a 1/4 of one long side and a short edge to go, but I have run out of yarn so I ordered a couple of 25m skeins yesterday so hopefully despatched today and should have it by the end of the week so you never know by this time next week, the VLT stole could all be over!!!!

Today I plan to cast on (it's my day off) a baby bolero cardigan in 4ply for my goddaughter as part of her Christmas present and to cast on for the Bee stole for my SIL's Christmas present, watch this space to see if she get's it for Christmas or next October for her birthday although I am quite looking forward to doing it as the "lacey surprise" and the VLT edging have been a bit tedious and what with doing a 3rd Swallowtail previously I think I'm in need of something different and a little challenging.....

Halfway there...

I will appologise now for the lack of photos in this post, so I'll keep it short & sweet.

I rounded the 2nd corner the other night on the VLT shawl so I can officially say I am over halfway :) I have a feeling I am going to be a little bit short of yarn, but I checked a few months ago and the supplier still had some of this dyelot available.... I may however, pull my swatch back yet if it's that close!

On the sock front I have nearly finished the 2nd Opal Rainforest 2 'Bee' sock and I have started on the Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscape 'Caribbean' sock which is looking nice; I much prefer the landscape to the mirage pattern just more interesting.....

I have started another lace project for a friend's birthday two weeks today.... so no pictures I'm afraid as I know she reads my blog, so tough Anita ;oP and no it's not another Swallowtail....

Turning a corner....

I finally rounded the first corner last night on the VLT stole!!!!!!!!!!! I did fudge the corner a little but I am pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. This is only my 2nd time of knitting a border onto a shawl on the 1st one had more instructions than the VLT book provides for these sort of things......

For future reference Fleegle has just posted an article on a easy method of grafting the edges of a knitted on border together, which if I hadn't started on the border already I would have been trying out....

Also completed yesterday was the Regia Kaffe Fassett 'Mirage' Storm socks...... I am pleased with the fabric and the colours are pleasant and 'safe' for a man you've never given socks to before; well I really couldn't give a Coats rep Opal, Trekking or Lana Grossa could I????

I wouldn't want to knit another 'Mirage' pattern they're a bit bland to knit I prefer something with a bit of a pattern going on even stripes, but just as well we're not all the same or life would be dull...

Eadaoine asked on previous post how many yards the Swallowtail had taken - approx 460 yds

Progress...

of sorts...... as you've seen both pairs of socks are complete and I've started another two pairs.... one is the Kaffee Fassett Mirage in "Storm" and the other pair is Rainforest 2 "Bee"

I know they're not as exciting as other peoples socks with fancy patterns and yarns, but at the end of the day there's something elegant about a smoothly knitted sock and when I haven't felt like picking up my knitting recently my trusty socks have always been there so I haven't felt completely useless....

The one thing that I love about my socks is I can just grab the bag and run out the door at a moments notice, everything is in my little Go Knit pouch to provide me with entertainment should I need it.... Whilst exchanging emails with n of the The Yarn Yard this morning I realised just how travelled my socks are..... the Bee pair so far this week went to the hairdressers on Monday, MIL's on Wednesday, tomorrow they will go to the Hospital and on Sunday they will be going to Harrogate and back!!!!

If you read n's blog you will see she is talking about October being Breast Cancer Awareness month and that she's asking all her friends if they've checked their breasts and she asked who would we be asking, so I'm going to publically ask you all...

Have you checked your breasts today?

Back on the Lace knitting front here as promised is a photo of the current Swallowtail which if I stick to the pattern is at the end of the budding lace chart, but as I've not yet used a full 25g ball I'm going to risk doing 5 more pattern repeats to make a bigger shawl, that and I won't get it finished for tomorrow so it can be my Godmother's christmas present.... that's the only nice thing about people who have birthdays near Christmas, you can 'shuffle' their presents around should they not be finished in time for the first ocassion ;o) !!!!!

Just to prove I've actually started on the border of the VLT shawl, I will be happier when I've got a few more repeats done, then it might not feel so flimsy and awkward to work with.... I haven't managed to do 5 repeats a day as you can see, but I will try to stick to it in the future....

Progress of sorts....

I haven't really done much of anything recently, I just feel weary and it seems to have taken all my time to get through everyday stuff... on the lace front I still haven't tackled the border on the VLT stole and this is as far as I have got with the Scarf with No 20 edging from VLT which is supposedly for SIL's birthday on the 8th October.... it may become her Christmas present yet!!!!

It's Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in colourway Tide Pool Heather and I am working on 3.75mm needles still a little big in my estimation so you can imagine what I thought when I tried it on 4.5mm first!!! I've seen other people work with a smilar weight yarn on 4.5mm needles and it looks fine, mine just looked awful and I've a pretty even knitter on straights......

On the non-lace knitting front my first socks are progressing well and should be finished reasonably soon, I hope.... the first is Opal's Hunderwasser "Steamers in Ultramarine III" and is a size 10 for a friend's daughter....

The 2nd pair is Opal Prisme for a Christmas gift which have to be finished for the beginning of October as she's off to Spain for Christmas, but at least it's only a sixe 4!!!!

Despite not being a popular pattern in the UK and a very unpopular colour, everyone who's seen me knit these thinks they're wonderful!!!!

Is it...

... S.E.X if I don't buy it?

This is 100% pure French silk in Silver Grey (2/28NM) from Colourmart When it grows up it's hopefully going to be the Alpine Lace Scarf from VLT; well actually I'm going to put a few more repeats of the centre motif in to make it wider to make it more of a stole... It will be a 70th birthday present from my Mum to her cousins wife next April (so I have plenty of time) so in effect Mum bought the yarn so is it really S.E.X, That's the question.???

I can't tell you much about it at the moment as I'm only just starting to swatch with it. I can tell you however, it's a 4ply yarn (a 2 & 2) so there are two distinct strands when knitting.... which doesn't bother me as I've been knitting holding two yarns together for a few projects. It feels a bit harsh at first, but after a few rows of stocking stitch the fabric softens up and I can see it being quite drapey and even more so after washing and blocking.....

I'm using 2.5mm needles and so far I like the result :o)

O.K. confession time.... I sent a link to a friend to show her the yarn and Colourmart had just had a new delivery of 1/20NM 100% Cashmere and this colour was there just glaring at me and begging me to buy it....

It's just such a beautiful shade of green it's called "Asparagus"... I gave it thought as to what I could use it for I didn't just want to buy it for the sake of buying it and then I'd remembered I'd subconciously been persuaded to pre-order the "Princess Shawl" pattern from Heirloom Knitting. Sharon Miller gives a couple of suggestions for yarn on her site and the Merino is just a little thinner (about 4 metres per gram) than the cashmere, so I bought it :o))))

I have to say I'm impressed with Colourmart's photography as the yarn is true to the colour on their website.....

So in the end I did succumb to a little S.E.X ;o)

Joining the Border Gang....

Yes that means at long last (it does feel longer than 4 months) the body of the VLT Sampler shawl is complete and to prove it.....

It's going to be big without the border and blocking it's about 5' 5" and 20" wide :0 but it's finally complete.

I didn't think it would come out quite as big as the yarn is quite fine [finer than it was meant to be :S) ] The yarn should have had 250m in a suposedly 25g hank (it's sold by length) however on weighing the hanks after starting they turned out to be approximately 22g which means that the yarn I thought was 10 m/g was in fact just over 11 m/g if I had known this at the beginning then I would have used 3mm needles instead of 3.25mm and it perhaps wouldn't have come out so huge...... so far I have just started into my 6th and final hank so I'm not sure if I will need to purchase more; however they do still have some smaller skeins (25m) of this dye lot left so I'm not sweating too much......

So along with Fleegle, lacefreak and missalicefaye I will be starting on the edging but not until weekend.

I now have questions for people if you don't mind....

I'm contemplating buying Hazel Carter's "Shetland Lace Knitting from Charts" and was wondering if any of you have it and what you think of it? or if you have recommendations for any other Lace books, I do have a few already....

I'm also asking what's your favourite lace yarns those around the 10 metres per gram mark (it's just my way of calculating how fine lace yarn is for comparison), the reason being I'm going to be knitting the Alpine Scarf from VLT and just thought as I'm not paying for the yarn it would be nice to experiment with a different yarn.... I don't do fluffy yarns such as KSH and don't want a cotton based yarn, preferably a merino or merino blend, so if anyone has comments or suggestions please leave in the usual manner.... TIA

Finally thanks Fleegle for the Norwegian Purl link, I will give it a try when I've watched it a few times..... perhaps trying it after a glass of wine will help ;)

PLT Mystery Stole 3

I finished clue 4 last night. I am very intrigued as to what the theme could be. I'm not very good at things like this as I can never relate to what the symbols mean etc so I have not attempted any guesses as to what the theme may be.

I just know the Zephyr is lovely yarn to knit with, I like Melanies other patterns and the instructions are clear so all in all it's a lovely knit and a lovely shawl, that doesn't mean to say I'm not looking forward to what the clue is......


Elsewhere on the knitting front only socks have progressed in so far as I have turned the heel on the 1st Elemente sock and started the 2nd Hundertwasser sock..... I am hoping after jobs are done to get back onto the VLT shawl I am getting ready for finishing the main body of the shawl and to move onto something different....

Lacy Days....

The thing with me and blogging is either seem to have nothing to say or everything to say..... no happy medium so to speak... Anyway yesterday and last night I had a real lace day :)

For those of you who were kind enough to leave me positive comments on my adventures into designing my 1st lace stole thank you I found them very encouraging... but please feel free to leave constructive criticism too.....

Anyway here is the complete pattern repeat knitted up.... I am now going to repeat the motif again and then decide if I do or don't want space between the rows of motifs, I am happy with the motifs sitting next to each other......

After telling you about the Pippa bag fiasco the other day I did cast on this last night. So this is now my intrim knit between Pink Lemon Twist Mystery Stole and Mums' VLT Beginner stole.... and before you ask yes I did complete Clue 3 last night before starting..... I think my productivity yesterday came from lack of productivity last week.....

This actually was the first mystery stole that I joined back in May, but by the time I had found it and then organized my yarn from the States the last clue was being started.... so here's what this is going to be when it grows up, Midsummer by the Goddess Knits. I am using "Classic" from Yarn Treehouse; its 100% wool and is quite springy to knit with, the pattern called for 5.0mm needles but I preferred the look with my 4.5mm Knit Picks Options :) it's actually going to be a gift for my goddaughter Sarah for her Christening in September.

The photo shows me part way through what was Clue 1

And just to prove that I didn't cast on before finishing clue 3 here you go, I just love knitting with Zephyr :o))))))))))))))) but I really do not have a clue what the theme is going to be...


And last, but not least (no I didn't manage any of this yesterday) an update of were I'm at with the VLT, I know you can't see the stitch patterns (I am halfway so just repeating the patterns in reverse order) but I can't believe how big its getting. I really hadn't noticed as most of the time it's screwed up on my knee in ball....


So all in all a very enjoyable Lace day yesterday......

VLT Sampler Shawl Progress

I felt so guilty after telling / showing mum that I had finished the Swallowtail & started my 2nd small, lacey project that it made me pick up the sampler shawl last night and I managed to work a full repeat of pattern G (14 rows). I really don't know what it is about this shawl that I can't get to grips with it. I don't dislike it but don't love it but once I start on it I enjoy knitting it... it's just getting round to picking up the needles... perhaps because there is no urgency for it....

Anyway as there are so many patterns in this shawl I've taken a progress photo and labeled the patterns so at least it will make some sense of what I'm talking about.... I hope!!!

and here are a few close ups of the patterns.....

Patterns: B, C & D (from bottom to top)

Patterns: D, E & D (from bottom to top)

Patterns: D, C, F & G (from bottom to top)