Bitches Get Stitches

i’m 100% obsessed with the ttl mystery shawl 2020.
i received a notification around 11pm last night
that the new clue was available.
exhaustion after a very long day
and a happily full evening at home with bae
meant that, of course, i stayed up
until around 4 a.m. determined
to finish the second clue.
i came pretty close,
but stopped
just ten rows shy.

this morning,
i awoke to coffee and
leftover cake for breakfast,
the exact fuel necessary for knitting.

my brain is, what can only be described as,
starved for the kind of calm knitting brings.
working on this neck accessory
felt akin to taking
a xanax;
the focus required, the repetition,
the interplay of highly contrasting colors
(shout-out to tina for picking them!)
were a perfect storm of
chemically-induced
tranquility.

some thoughts on the pattern:

i would characterize the difficulty level as intermediate; i definitely needed to clear away some cobwebs to remember how to effectively execute less-than-standard knitting techniques. though i’m arrogant enough to feel like, even out of practice, i didn’t need them, i appreciate the very obvious effort put into this pattern to anticipate common pitfalls knitters will encounter. the overall thoroughness of the pattern is impressive, including:

1. charts and written instruction
(though, come on people; learn to read charts already)
2. helpful notes for the section you’re working on the page, itself
3. stitch counts for every row (this is really above and beyond, imo)

there’s enough variation to keep one (me) stimulated,
while being simple enough to get into the groove
of the pattern rather easily. memorizing
a pattern repeat is a distinct pleasure,
one of the reasons i love knitting
lace shawls so much.

also: shout-out the ravelry KAL forum.
people have been so nice and legit helpful;
i mentioned i’d trouble cabling sans cable needle and boom:
two complete strangers linked to helpful videos, refreshing my memory.

i think that’s just about enough rambling for today.
here are the money shots of clue two, completed:

thanks, kirsten!
but what the fuck
am i supposed to knit, now?