Knitting as therapy

A couple of weeks ago I was home from work sick for a few days, not sick enough to have to stay in bed, but unwell enough that I had to stay on the couch, nice and quiet and rest.  Not well enough to get the machine out, but well enough to knit.  What an absolute saviour it was and it stopped me from going mad…4 days on the couch is a long time when you have no choice :)

I had started the Wendy Knits Summer Solstice Shawl KAL over on Ravelry.  Wow, do I love Ravelry, endless hours of wonderful!!  I decided to jump in as I had one skein of Madeline Tosh Light that I bought on sale last year and I already had the right needles so I thought it would be an adventure.  The next clue or part of the pattern came out each week over five weeks.  The pattern suggested a stitch called a nupp - like a little thread bobble.  Or you could add beads instead, or nothing.  I tried out the nupp (I learnt on youtube that it's pronounced noop rhymes with soup!!)  Boy were they horrible to knit!!  Plus they looked terrible, a motley and random collection was all I could manage.  Absolutely no pretty pattern with mine :)

So once I was home on the couch I knew I'd be there for a few days so I decided to take advantage of the time and I ripped it all out and started over.  Wow, I was so pleased I did.  This time I skipped the nupp rhymes with soup and left mine plain.

It dawned on me about half way through that it was lace knitting and that I was lace knitting!  This is only my 3rd knitting project so it was exciting to realise it was quite fancy.  I'd seen Rita's amazing lace knitting and always thought it must be tricky tricky tricky.  Well let me tell you I'm a boring accountant and it's perfect because really it's just a case of following the pattern in the correct order and therefore getting the right combo of knits and purls and yarn overs.  Yes there were a few stitches I had to youtube but it really was fun!

So I managed to keep up and finish on time and boy is it beautiful!  Totally impractical as a shawlette and really a bit nanna-ish and not something I'll ever wear.  It looks like I should add a ribbon and tie it around my neck.  Maybe if I have a period drama fancy dress to go along to?  I have been known to try and convert my dressing gown into a bustle :)

Needless to say there are no pics of me wearing it…but wow is it pretty!!