Jumping right in

I'm taking the plunge....the shawl making plunge, that is.

I thought Travelling Woman would be my first shawl (especially after seeing this one from Bubblesknits, but a few gals in one of the knitting groups I attend were going to start BrooklynTweed's Juneberry Triangle. At some point, I had the smart(?) idea of joining them, so here I am, jumping right in and tackling this pattern as my first shawl... yikes.

I thought I was already in over my head too soon, as I was already encountering something I didn't know how to do right from the start of the pattern: the provisional cast on. Wasn't too hard (only 3 stitches to CO) and somehow managed to get the first chart finished in the wee hours of the morning.

I've done some minimal lacework before, but you usually have a breather on the WS of the pattern - not so with this one. You're knitting the pattern on both sides of your work, so you really have to pay attention! This most certainly will not be a project I will be taking with me to knit night, as I'm sure I'd be ripping things back if I did. But so far, so good and I hope this project won't be disastrous (totally off topic, but do you ever have those days when you're typing something and the word just doesn't look right to you? I'm having that moment with the words 'plunge' and 'disastrous' today).

The yarn I am using for this project is from Liberty's Yarn. It is her Annabel DK weight, which is a 100% USA grown and milled wool yarn. This is the colorway Sadeh and it's a gorgeous reddish-orange that just has this awesome flamey-glow to it.

I'm enjoying my knitting projects thus far into the new year - first with my mittens with colorwork and now starting another first for me.