Reckless Optimism

Here is the list of knitting I took on my Christmas vacation:

1. Galadriel's Mirror
2. Second fingerless glove for CodeNinja
3. Yarn, needles, and pattern for a Gothic Tam
4. Permafrost

Here is the list of what I actually worked on during my Christmas vacation:

1. Galadriel's Mirror

Even with two plane flights and a total of 16 hours in the car, I worked on nothing but Galadriel's mirror and still didn't get anywhere close to done.

Still, it went from looking like this:



To looking like this:



...Yeah, still doesn't feel like much progress. However, I've now finished Chart 3, which means I only have two charts to go, and at least they're different (charts 1, 2 and 3 were very similar). And, even better, it doesn't have any bobbles. I have come to loathe the bobble. I don't mind fiddlly knitting, but I don't even really care that much for the final effect, so that was kind of frustrating. I could have substituted, done something else, saved myself from bobble hell, but I decided the bobbles were integral to the texture of the shawl so I did them as written.

I solemnly swear I will never bobble again.

I did actually lose quite a bit of knitting time on this trip. I don't think I knit at all once we got off the plane, until the day after Christmas when we left for the first 8 hours of driving. Even then, it took me a while into the trip to pick it up.

I have, my friends, discovered that it is possible to be too tired to knit. I was sick for the first part of my vacation, which accounted for some of it, but really, I wasn't feeling so lousy that there should have been that big of an issue. It wasn't the illness - I was just too darn tired. I always have a lot of commitments in December, and I really think I just overdid it. The end of 2011 was totally consumed with the Great Revamping Of My Life, and for once, I didn't have any energy left to create.

I'm starting to get my mojo back a little bit. There's still a lot to do and many, many demands on my time and energy, but I'm trying to make time - if for no other reason than I won't have a wedding shawl if I don't! (That's a lie. The members of Romi's group on Ravelry are awesome and I have had tons of offers to knit a shawl for me for the wedding, so I'm sure if I got worried, I could pass it off and have a finished version back in a week.)

Speaking of which, I've now arrived at the point in my Madrona shawl where I bind off half of the circle I've been making, and as planned, I've been adding crystals to the edge.




I have to admit, it's a lot of crystals, and the yarn in the shawl is already sparkly, so I was afraid of it being overkill - but oh, they're so pretty. When I pick up the shawl it glitters and shines, and compared to the crystals, the metallic thread in the yarn is downright subtle. I feel good about it. Except I miscounted the number of crystals I would need and I ran out before the bind off was finished. I have more on order, but this shawl is officially stalled until I receive them. Shipping is usually pretty quick, though, so I expect that by the time I have dedicated knitting time again, I'll have crystals. So many crystals.