Uh-Oh.

I finished the center square of my Stonington Shawl and started on the first border. Somewhere around 2" into the border itself, I came to a realization: the construction of these borders doesn't allow for easy patterning because one is made differently from the other three. ARGH!

That's when it all came crashing down. My latent feelings that this particular garter stitch shawl was unsuited to the elegant silvery quality of the yarn, that my brilliant center would look stupid surrounded by miles of garter stitch, and that I really-and-truly didn't like it.

Behold, the sad remnants of my Stonington Shawl:

Then again, the yarn once again has potential, and it's tough to beat that.

I've been SO GOOD lately. The Lyra is coming along nicely, although it's not much bigger. The pattern is just complicated enough to allow me to listen to a good audiobook, but too complicated for TV watching. I've been adding a couple of rows every here and there, and it's enchanting. I think one of the reasons Niebling is popular with lace knitters is that his style is so different from traditional Shetland-style shawls. Both have their place, but I'm thrilled to see something so different from what I'm used to coming off my needles.

But back to being SO GOOD: instead of starting a new project for straight knitting, I've been trawling my Ravelry projects for unfinished TV-worth material. I've been working steadily on the [redacted], and even did the ripping out that was needed on my Salina sleeves. Oh, I didn't mention that one sleeve was a clear 2" longer than the other? And that the longer one is the one that fits my monkey arms? Grr. So I ripped back the sleeve cap and knitted the extra 2". Now there's just the sleeve cap to re-knit and I'm back to where I was!

See how good I've been? Not that starting 500 projects at once is bad. It definitely works for some people. But I get overwhelmed and irritated when I have nothing finished to show for myself, so keeping my works-in-progress down to about 5-6 is optimal for me.

Or it was, until these showed up:

Those are 2 Hazel Rose Looms, modeled after the super-popular Weave-it looms from the 1930's. There are three total in my set, measuring 2-, 4-, and 8- inches square. You see, I have always wanted to quilt, but fabric is NOT my medium. So I am trying out a compromise: flat weaving. Here are my efforts so far using leftover sock yarn that you might recognize:

3-way traditional warp, single-ply, following directions exactly (for once...)

Plain weave warp, single ply

3-way traditional warp, double ply

I like the look of the plain weave the best, but the double-ply was definitely quicker and I like the result almost as much. I'm going to play around with slightly heavier yarns and see where that takes me!