And again with the inability to follow pattern instructions. I got almost finished with the brioche section of the mystery shawl when I realized I’d been decreasing at a rate that was double what it should have been. That was ok though, as I also wasn’t digging what I’d done with some of the colors. Ripping and restarting was a setback, but resulted in a section I prefer over what I’d had. In this section I held a grey stand of yarn throughout, adding other colors for 4 rows. I chose every 4 rows the second time around simply because it meant it was easier to keep track of my decreasing.

The grey yarn I had been using was a gradient that ended up green, and that transition is seen at the tip of the shawl. I also used as one of my colors some silk hankies I had spun. Those are fairly textured, so it adds some interesting texture to that section.

Now, I know I said that I was only going to be using handspun for this project. But, here’s a little story. Yesterday, Miss Butterfly was very happily playing quietly in her room. It was one of those moments where I refused to disturb her as it was such quiet and productive play and she was being so good. So, any of the morning activities, chores, and errands I had planned flew right out the window. I did my own around the house chores practically tiptoeing around the house in hopes not to disturb this beautiful moment in which I was completely undisturbed. Mr. Ink was at work, so that was even less distraction than usual. At some point, Miss Butterfly had said “Mom, do you have any string I can use?” To which I laughed and said “Do *I* have any string??!?!!” And she laughed, and said “Well, I mean that I can cut up and use.” Before I was even able to stop what I was doing and get her some, she’d remembered that she has a bag full of her own that I’ve given her over the years. She showed me her bag full, and I noticed some old Noro Taiyo in there, in shades of orange, yellow, and brown. I was like “Butterfly, can I take this?!?” And she quickly said yes, they weren’t really colors she was interested in.

And that is how I ended up adding commercial yarn to my mystery shawl. I decided that my handspun yellow would work very well with the noro leftovers, and so that’s what I used for section 4.

Definitely an interesting departure from what I had been doing. At this point, this shawl is so westknits that I am ready to call it a monstrosity. A monstrosity that no one but me would ever wear. But, there are times we knit something just for the process of knitting it, right? And this is certainly one of those examples. And honestly? The yarns I’ve used in this are entirely yarns I’ve had small bits of all skeined together waiting for something to do with them. Except every time I tried, I’d get annoyed that they weren’t all precisely the same thickness/texture. And then I would quit knitting on any pattern I began. Holding yarns double really does solve that problem. I can achieve fairly similar thickness by choosing which yarns to hold together, and I barely notice the different textures.

We did go out and see our movie yesterday, after Mr. Ink got home, and he took us out to lunch as well since he’d noticed I was in the middle of a deep cleaning of our stove. All in all, a pretty relaxing and comfortable day in our home. We’ve gotten a lot of those lately on the weekends, and I am ever so grateful!

Oh, here’s a photo of the shawl in it’s entirety so far!

I’ve pulled out Miss Marja’s circles of lace scarf, and am hoping to find time to complete that today in between our other chores.