Note: You may notice that these project notes are a tad long for me. You may also notice that it is now referred to as the Shawl of Doom. I would like to state for the record that the only problems with this shawl are (a) crochet gremlins, (b) personal errors, and (c) what I can only assume is bad karma.

The pattern itself is awesome. Very well written, easy to follow, very easy to customize to any yarn or desired size.

So, uh. Don’t take the massive fail documented below as anything negative about the pattern.

Just, you know. Me.

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Dec 27: decided I could live with the hook size funkiness better than I could live with ripping back yet again. I have officially finished the last row of edging, cut the yarn (there is a ridiculously small amount left of the fourth skein), cut out the black yarn increase line marker things (without cutting the shawl, I’m fairly sure), and am waiting for tomorrow for giving it a look over and seeing if it looks okay. Have not woven in ends, but this is still progress…

Uploaded the latest pictures, which are super inaccurate colorwise but give decent stitch definition. Pictures of fully complete shawl to come later.

Dec 26: This project is SO DOOMED OMG. /cries laughing/ Turns out that the last some number of rows (I have no idea how many)? Were done with an I hook instead of a K.

Yeah.

(I’m leaving it though. It’s not like it’s all that noticable. I think. I hope. Augh.)

Dec 24: Only one more edging row to go; this may get finished after all. \o/

Day whatever (aka Dec 16): Ran out of skein at row two of edging. Time for more.

I was sort of aiming to get it done by dec 25 thinking it was the six month mark, but then I realized that I sort of still can’t count: may to december is seven months, not six. Facepalm.

Day 198: I am. I. I have no words. I am just laughing.

Finished row 23, which means I finished the body, which means I get to go on to the edging. Which would work better if I weren’t a complete and utter doofus when it comes to this shawl.

Seriously. The first row of the edging is a repeat of: shell, ch3, skip two and sc into third, ch3, skip one and sc into next, ch3, skip two and repeat. Or, as an easier way to describe it, the edging alternates A (column of shell stitches) with B (doohicky thingy that is probably a strawberry since this is called Strawberry Lace). The first row of A is shell stitch. The first row of B is sc, ch3 and skip one, sc. The row alternates A1, skip two and ch3, B1, skip two and ch3.

I will also point out that the edging is available both in chart form (very nice and clear too!) and written form.

So I start working, and even turn off the tv so I can concentrate. Ha.

First attempt: shell, skip two ch3, sc, skip two ch3, and repeat -- frogged once I saw that hey there are two sc’s between each shell. Mind you, I had done about a sixth of the row.

Second attempt: shell, skip two ch3, sc, skip two ch3, sc, skip two ch3, and repeat -- got about the same distance across and realized it wasn’t lining up, and spent ten minutes squinting at the chart and the directions and my shawl before realizing that there’s only one skipped st between the two sc’s.

Third attempt: has not been started.

*quiet sob*

Day 195, aka Dec 5th: Dye lot matches, which is a yay. Found another mistake, which is … well … not yay. (2/3 of the way through row 21, discovered that row 20 had a random extra increase in it. Whoops.) Frogged back, redid row 20 correctly, enlisted roommate help in disentangling the sorry mess residing between shawl and skein, and have now started row 21.

Row 23, the final row of body, should have: 24 stitches before the first V (noninclusive), 22 plain edc between V’s.

I can do this.

Dec 3: Ran out of second skein in the middle of Row 21. Luckily I saw this coming and acquired another skein - and if the dye lot or whatever doesn’t match, I can just frog back to the beginning of the row and make it a “design feature” that the last three rows plus edging are a different shade.

November 20: Progress! I am a) officially past where I had gotten to before (the yarn I am working with is coming out of the original skeinthingy instead of the frogged miniskeinthingy) and b) within sight of the end. Just finished row 19, so only four more to go.

(in case I forget what I worked out: since the blue marker is at the beginning of row 17, I will get to that side at the ends of row 20, which is next, and 22, which is after that. At that point I will count and make any necessary adjustments to each wedge.)

I think I will probably end up needing a third skein though.

October 13: Talked myself back out of fudging a mid length shawl - I really want the full length. Chugga chugga full steam ahead etc.

October 9: Had a moment of realization that I’m not stuck with either 15 or 23 rows, as long as I add in a few more increases on the last row to get a multiple of 8+2.

Am currently aiming for row 19 to be the last row of mesh. Given row n has 16 + 7 * (n-1) stitches, and I am one off, row 19 as written will have 141 stitches. The surrounding 8x+2 are 138 (skipping three increases) or 146 (adding five). Or hmm. row 17 has 125. row 18, 132. 8x+ are 122, 130. so maybe row 18 with skipping two increases.

October 8: I have to say that the problems I am having with this are in no way the fault of the pattern -- which I still love.

I do, however, seem to have either a) lost the basic ability to count argh what, or b) fallen into an alternate dimension where 15, 16, and 17 are interchangeable…

(nts row n has edge + n + V + (n-1) + V. or, n+1 stitches between markers, n+2 stitches before first and after last. big marker is @ beg row 17. that wedge is missing one stitch.)

October 3rd: one of the make-up rows is done yay. Using black yarn instead of stitch markers so I can have row by row indicators without having to remove and replace. We shall see how it goes. Kind of in the “each row is endless argh” stage. At least I have audiobooks…

September 9th: Finally got around to frogging back to the original mistake five rows back. Took forever (one ep of Doctor Who and half an ep of White Collar). I think this is becoming the shawl that never ends, or something. /wry grin/ I mean, I know I can do it, but it’s kind of discouraging to go back so far -- the 5th picture here is the size of the frogged ball of harn, next to a half-empty skein for size reference.

July mumblety status: Project is in temporary time-out due to too many mistakes argh. (Including one five rows back.) Will pick it back up after Ravellenics.

June 30 status: up to row 15, dithered about whether to do the full 23 rows or have a shorter shawl but decided to go with the full, so eight more rows it is! Model in the picture is my mother.

June 25 status: continuing after a hiatus; up to row 11 (10 plain edc between V’s).

Quick math break: row n has 16 + 7 * (n-1) total stitches. Edging needs 8x+2 stitches. Both need to be whole numbers. This occurs when 7*(n-1) is 8x+2. The first time 2mod8 coincides with 0mod7 is 42, which is row 7. The next time is 98, which is row 15. Third time would be row 23. (Consistent with directions -- row count for long and chunky versions -- but also means there is no middle ground between the two.) Thus, check size at end of row 15 to see whether to start the edging, and if not, commit to 8 more rows.

May 29 status: five rows of edc done, of 23 (as written, row 23 has 22 plain edc between V’s).

May 25 status: started! yay. Struggled with the fsc enough that I gave up and substituted loosely chaining 8 and then sc in back bumps of stitches. It won’t be as stretchy as fsc is, but it’s only the small bit at the middle of the neck. Also modified the turning chain to ch3.