In Which A Picture Is Not Worth A Thousand Words

I went to bed last night with every intention of posting knitting content today.  Why, ninety-five percent of the reason I wanted a new knitting blog was that I was knitting again!  And with a fury, too.

I woke up this morning as firm in my resolve as when I fell asleep.  But there were errands to do, places to go, things to be done in preparation for our impending holiday excursion Chez In-Law.  I still haven't packed.  I have time.

What I did prepare, several days ago, was the car knitting project, a vital part of any trip.  Now, I get motion sickness.  I remember, dimly, as a child, that I was able to read in the car on vacation.  Not so these days, even with medication to soothe my confused inner ear.  But I can knit, at least for stretches if not for the whole ride.

I feel particularly drawn to shawls and scarves at the moment, a long-lasting love of mine that sometimes gets upstaged by either the siren call of some drop-dead gorgeous sweater or the necessity of replacing worn-out dishcloths.  I always come back to my precious lace, though.  Eventually.

This time, it was waiting for the new Knitty that got me going.  I was off work on Sunday, and I had just finished a project that had been collecting dust for almost a year (more on that another time!) and I was itching for new inspiration, but there was no Knitty in sight.  And so, like reading my favorite novels over and over again, I browsed old patterns, remembering what I had meant to make and not gotten to, and finding ones I had forgotten entirely and was happy to rediscover.

And then, there was Ella.

Ella is coming along for Christmas this year, and she's a darling.  I happened to have some very vibrant laceweight in the stash, relic of a failed design project a few years back--a mix of teal, turquoise, sky blue, and a blindingly bright chartreuse that I just adore, for some odd reason.  As a nod to its car knitting status, I'm planning on the triangular version and not the original vee--though I do love the vee, it's an incredibly easy shape to wear.  That will also obviate the need to figure out if I actually have enough yarn to do a vee...with the triangular shape I can just knit until I run out! 

For posterity's sake, I photographed the piece in its before-trip state; I did enough repeats of the pattern to be sure I had it memorized, then made heroic efforts of will not to keep knitting it.  I think I did four or five rows earlier today while I had the dishes soaking.  Honest, that's all.  I'm afraid that I'm so consumed by the knitting bug that I might just finish this shawl while I'm gone if I knit too much of it beforehand...and then I would be without any knitting!

Unfortunately, those pictures...well, I couldn't upload them.  Would you believe I had just enough juice in my rechargeable batteries to take the two pictures I wanted, then die before I got them on to my hard drive?  So frustrating, especially when I realized all the other rechargeables on hand were just as toast.  The two waiting by the charger for their turn, I understand, but the Wiimotes were both empty and the four in the Balance Board were dead too?  Hmph.  My batteries defy me!

And so, like all those snake-oil internet ads for weight loss, my before and after will have to come side by side.  Truly, it's an indignity, and I hope that one day, Ella will forgive me.

/faints dramatically