I'm knitting Susan's wrap, which will be her Christmas present. And that's all I'm knitting, until it's finished.
The wrap, which will keep her warm in a draughty Maine classroom, is an adaptation of the Ruana from Cheryl Oberle's wonderful Folk Shawls. I've passed through the scary "I will never finish this in time" stage and the equally scary "Sweet Land o' Goshen, this is ugly" stage. I now feel confident of an on-time delivery, and of her satisfaction with the finished product.
This is a far cry from the night before Thanksgiving, when I fell asleep working on it and had a dream that she unwrapped it on Christmas morning and threw up.
Here's a sneak preview (for which I secured advance permission from the recipient).
The wool is Jo Sharp DK. No, the itty-bitty pumpkin is not part of the garment.
A note, by the way, to anybody contemplating knitting the Ruana from Cheryl Oberle's wonderful Folk Shawls. If you make the full-sized article, you'll pretty much be knitting a large afghan on size 7 needles mostly with worsted-weight yarn. Entirely in garter stitch.
Pause, knitter, and consider.
Love the colors! And I'm glad for your sake that it's nearly done and no longer making you feel it's ugly. I cracked up at the cartoon in the last post!
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely. Lucky Susan.
ReplyDeleteI love the color too, and Jo Sharp yarn... but garter stitch does take forever and a day.... have fun and sweet dreams!
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that. I think I knit that ruana on and off for 32 years.
ReplyDeleteGah. I contemplated that ruana. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteI was ok until you got to the 'entirely in garter stitch' part. blech. I'd have fallen asleep over it too. But your colours are lovely, and no recipient of such a thoughtful and 'oh dear god will this never end' kind of knitting kind of gift could not help but be anything that happy and thankful. No more bad dreams, 'kay?
ReplyDeleteI'm just imagining you unfurling all that knitting on a station platform; and carrying around a bag the size of a steamer trunk...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the head's up - I've considered knitting that ruana myself, but never got as far as actually looking at the details of needles and yarn weight.
ReplyDeleteI may still do it, one of these days. I don't mind projects that my fingers can knit without the need to consult the brain. Something I can knit while I watch a movie or something.
Even from the little picture I can see that it is lovely. You must be some friend, to knit this garter stitch ginormous shawl. I once started a garter stitch pullover for my son, who was three at the time, and got so sick of it I ripped it before I could finish it.
ReplyDeleteI think it looks great!! . . . and really nice photography. Its far from making anyone want to throw up! The colours are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThey are truly beautiful colors, Franklin, but as a wearer of a ruana (rather like a pharoese shawl), the idea of knitting one entirely in garter stitch is enough to make me chuck the needles.
ReplyDeleteYou must be a really special brother to a really special sister to go through that.
Every time I see the word ruana I think of a country at war and I decide not to knit it.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm planning on spinning 1000 yards of alpaca laceweight for a wee little something for meself.
In lace, duh.
Shoot me now.
Or help me :-)
As a new knitter, I stumbled across your blogs quite by accident - lucky me! I look for your new posts with rapt anticipation - you're inspiring and slap your knee hysterical!
ReplyDeleteI just bought that book. Not being good with giant knitting(FEE FI FO FUM) I'm recosidering some of the patterns most carefully.
ReplyDeletelove the knit stages references. so true. :)
ReplyDeletelooking forward to seeing the finished project. cheryl's folk vests book is wonderful. will be checking out her folk shawls book.
love the knit stages references. so true. :)
ReplyDeletelooking forward to seeing the finished project. cheryl's folk vests book is wonderful. will be checking out her folk shawls book.
I have the book, and the ruana is, indeed, lovely to look at. Fortunately, as I'm prone to tendonitis (knitter's nightmare!), I have a legitimate excuse never to attempt it.
ReplyDeleteI'm just imagining you unfurling all that knitting on a station platform; and carrying around a bag the size of a steamer trunk..
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It will not truly have success, I feel like this.
ReplyDelete