After seeing this post about the Celestarium shawl, I fell in love. Then I quickly put it in the back of my brain so I wouldn't have to drool over it anymore and went about my day.
Later, multiple friends saw the Reddit post that made the shawl famous, posted it on Facebook, and some even sent the link specifically to me, telling me I should make it. I was tempted yet again. My Goddess was I tempted, but my problem with shawls, as much as I love knitting them, is that I never -- yep never -- wear them. I wish I did. I wish I was the type to, but I just don't. I'm more of a geeky t-shirt and cardigan if I'm cold wear-er, not the fancy shawl type. So investing this much of my time and money into a shawl as complex as this one (it's actually not complex at all, I just assumed because… beads) didn't seem in my starts (hehe, see what I did there?)
BUT then came the Facebook friend that decided she needed one for herself and would pay me for my time and supplies. That was a bit more interesting. If I knew it went to a good home and I was going to be compensated accordingly, that was a different matter. Maybe this lady would treat the shawl right, wear it with fancy gowns and tossed onto shoulders that need it's warmth. This is something I could stand behind. So I started this daunting project.
These were progress shots as I began and the stitch count was still under 500 :P. You don't increase in every round like you might assume for a circular shawl, but instead you double the stitch count every 50 rows or so. What starts out as about 20 stitches each round doubles, then doubles again, and again… until your last section is almost 600 stitches per round. It's kind of intense, but it's all stockinette stitch, so pretty easy knitting. Now with almost 600 stitches to go each round, it takes me almost an hour to do 2 rows! So… yeah, it's a bit time consuming.
Later, multiple friends saw the Reddit post that made the shawl famous, posted it on Facebook, and some even sent the link specifically to me, telling me I should make it. I was tempted yet again. My Goddess was I tempted, but my problem with shawls, as much as I love knitting them, is that I never -- yep never -- wear them. I wish I did. I wish I was the type to, but I just don't. I'm more of a geeky t-shirt and cardigan if I'm cold wear-er, not the fancy shawl type. So investing this much of my time and money into a shawl as complex as this one (it's actually not complex at all, I just assumed because… beads) didn't seem in my starts (hehe, see what I did there?)
BUT then came the Facebook friend that decided she needed one for herself and would pay me for my time and supplies. That was a bit more interesting. If I knew it went to a good home and I was going to be compensated accordingly, that was a different matter. Maybe this lady would treat the shawl right, wear it with fancy gowns and tossed onto shoulders that need it's warmth. This is something I could stand behind. So I started this daunting project.
Look at this beast D: I mean, whoa. I dyed the yarn myself (my "TARDIS" Doctor Who themed color way) and though it's making this super cool spiral with the dark bits of variegated blues, I think I'm going to dip the whole thing in a deep blue color before I block it because the variegation is a bit distracting from the star-beads and I want them to pop more. The spiral won't go away entirely, but it'll be more muted and less intense. This is a prime example of when color-pooling is totally appropriate and awesome though (in my opinion, I know some people hate color-pooling).
So close to being done! About 20 more rows and then the border. I will assuredly be done by the end of summer but hopefully by the end of July. I reeeeally want to move onto small projects that don't weight 2 lbs. ;P
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