So, I conquered the mitten. I’ll tell you all about it later, but suffice to say it involved graph paper, ripping, laddering down to repair colour order, and some neck strain. However, as you will see, it was worth it. But that’s not what this is about. This is about the shawl.

Last week, before the mitten waved its stranded little palm at me, I was going to knit a shawl. Anyway, I was all over the place and couldn’t choose a pattern and it turns out that the problem was just that I hadn’t found Oaklet yet. Luckily for me, Kristen saw it and, when my plea went up, she thought of me, and bam. I made myself finish the first mitten before I cast on, though, and then I spent a chunk of Sunday gloriously knitting nothing but stockinette and eyelets and it was just what my mind and shoulders needed.

And then I looked down at what I was knitting and I wasn’t so sure anymore. The thing is, I was originally planning to alternate between the two skeins, so when I cast on, I didn’t pay any attention to which ball I was using. Then, though, after inspecting the pattern a little further, I saw that I actually only needed 350 yds (the amount in one skein) and decided not to bother alternating because that would be annoying both now and later, when I will probably use the second skein to make socks (maybe these ones). So, my plan changed, I kept knitting, not thinking about what I was doing, and then I looked down and realized I should really start planning ahead better.

See these two skeins (the smaller one on the left is the one I’m knitting from). See how the one on the right has all these purples and greens laced through the brown? See how the one on the left (the one that I’m knitting from) doesn’t? Yeah. I didn’t see it right away either, but when I realized it, it did explain why my shawl looked more, well, Earthy than I had expected. Here it is:

When I realized my mistake (namely, that the skein I feel would work best as a shawl turned out to be the one I wasn’t using for a shawl) my immediate reaction was that I needed to rip it back and start over. I wasn’t totally crazy about the way the dark colours are pooling, and it was very brown, and it just wasn’t the shawl I’d been picturing in my head. That is, it wasn’t when it was in the house. When I took it outside to get a nice photo to show you all and ask your opinion, a strange thing happened: I started to see flecks of green and purple and shades I liked.

To be clear: I’m still not totally crazy about the way the dark colours pooled over the shorter rows (I’m also not sure it would be any different with the other skein), but seeing the shawl outside did change my perception of its colours. Honestly, I was in the 100% going to rip this camp until I took these photos. Yes, I was probably dazzled by the fall colours, but I will be wearing clothes with this shawl, so presumably they will bring out some of these same colours, right?

So, unless you think I’m setting myself up for a shawl I’ll be only mostly happy with (it may just be that I subconsciously don’t want to rip), I think I’ll keep going and see how it turns out. Thoughts? (You and I both have time to think about it since my week is dedicated to the second mitten, about which, more later.)