Resurrecting the 2013 Mystery KAL Shawl

At the beginning of September 2014 I saw that there was the autumn mystery KAL happening.  I'm so bummed to not be party of the sign ups, and not just because you get the pattern for free if you sign up at the beginning.  I know I just don't have time to make a shawl on a schedule.  I do need to resurrect the 2013 mystery shawl I have yet to finish (Meristem by Susanna IC.) I'm so close to the end, I know I could finish it up within a week or so if I just tried.  The tricky part is that since the project is beaded, I need a safe way to work on it without Lucky knocking it over.

How my project has been hibernating this last year and a half.

Of course I didn't make a note of what row I was on when I stopped working on this project!  I can tell that I'm about to do a right side row and I must still be in the middle of clue 7.  Hopefully I still have access to a version that lists the clues.  Aha!  I never updated the pattern to the most recent version so I was able to pull up the no spoilers version of clue 7.

Clue 7
There are so many notations that I have to remember.  I'm so glad I took detailed notes when I was working on the pattern last time, even if I didn't write down the rows.  From a close look at the lace I can tell that I am on row 7 of clue 7.

I can't remember the last time I worked with lace, or with beads or a 0.90 mm crochet hook.  Could it really be the last time I was working on this project?  That just seems crazy to me!

After clue 7, 29 g remain of ball 2.  Finished 5/3/2015

Clue 8
Now I can't see clue 8, I only have the finished pattern (waiting 18 months will do that!)  It took some time to figure out that clues 7 and 8 were part of Section F.  I panicked for a minute when I thought I made some mistakes before I located the correct section of the pattern to work on.  Only 4 rows left and then I'm done with this shawl.

I finished the 3 charted rows the evening I picked this project back off.  The bind off (P, p2tog) will take some time to finish since there are hundreds of stitches so I left it to the morning.  Even so, why on Earth did I wait so long to finish this project?  I was so close to the end!

You may not think I'm serious, but the bind off of this shawl is taking me LONGER than the 5 lace rows I had left.  And that includes the time to put beads on 3 of the rows!

After clue 8, 15 g remain of ball 2.  Finished 5-4-2015

Blocking

Hello, old friend.

In the end this project used 84 g, 388 yards of fiber and almost two full tubes of beads.  Calculating the number of beads I'll need is always one of my least favorite parts of a project.  What will I end up doing with my extra bead stash?  I'd love some suggestions.

This shawl was a little complicated to block.  It isn't a crescent like many of Susanna's designs where you stretch the top edge without pinning it during blocking.  The top edge had to be pinned.  I didn't quite get the shape outlined in the pattern, but I think it is pretty close.

There is a LOT of extra fabric around the points.  I see this in the shawl pattern itself so I know I didn't bind off too loosely, it is just part of the design.  I think the finished shawl is adorable and I really hope that the recipient likes it.

It may look like I'm protecting the shawl... because I am!  I suppose you could argue that I'm protecting Lucky from pins, but I also know what sticky toddler fingers would do to my pretty lace.  

This is one of the last projects I completed before we left Evanston.  Finishing this project gives me a huge sense of accomplishment, I started this when I was still pregnant with Lucky!  Once I finished this project I felt safe to start packing up some of my knitting supplies and accessories.

I will keep an eye out for other mystery KAL's in the future.  Maybe I'll make some more shawls as my little guy gets older, but for now if I join in I'll just follow at a slower pace.  I love knitting lace so much!  I already know two other projects I want to make for myself but I have plenty of yarn in my stash that is just begging to turn into shoulder coverings.