Love, Hate and Heat

My Hanami Sprint is turning into a long distance run. With a constant 36`C it's been some really hot days, running around the Greek bureaucracy and packing for the trip, which I just started, doesn't help my knitting quest much either. However, I have managed to do something, at least.

As of half an hour ago, I have finished half of the shawl. I absolutely loved the first three charts (A,B and C) and they went by like a breeze. Around the middle of chart D I was truly and honestly hating this pattern. The fact that I could not find my stitch markers (hid them from kids in a really good place....) did not help the situation. I grit my teeth and I just knit through it fearing the deadline (don't ask me if I cursed, I would hate to admit it...), but I could not force myself to pick this up for a day or two after that. Then, I found my stitch markers - YESSS! :) Knitting went more smooth and with little (or a lot) patience, I slowly got through this thing.

I discovered a few things. First, I don't like to knit patterns, where lace is not easy to read. I love the look though. Second, I am seriously re-thinking weather I should knit the second half with the basket weave pattern instead of doing both halves identical. Looking at the finished shawls on Ravelry, I start to think that the whole magic of the pattern is within combining the order and the chaos. And I think that the pattern looses a bit of it's charm if one is taken away. Well, the fact that I seriously don't want to knit through charts D and E any time soon again might play a small role, too...

My half of the shawl, unblocked, measures 80cm x 33cm and weights 42g. Which means I have used about 400 yards, plus/minus a few. I am sure it will stretch more with blocking, so I will not add any extra rows in the middle.

I plan to finish it in Latvia, I still have enough time till my mother's birthday. And what can be better than knitting in my best friends country home, sitting in the garden..... :)