Length Matters

I have determined that needle length is everything. Yes. Length matters. You can try to convince yourself that all you need is a 16” and a 24” circular needle for your collection, but I will tell you that you are very, very mistaken, especially if you are planning to knit a shawl in the round.

Sherman, the resident dog, bed warmer, and queen of the house and all furniture therein has of late been a pain. She does not understand that my knitting is not a comfy bed for her to lie on – specifically this shawl I am knitting. She also doesn’t understand why it makes me so hysterical to find her reveling in the shawl I am knitting in the round after returning from the bathroom to find stitches making a break for it, to become free range, possibly for several rows. I have knit endless hours on this shawl. I have knit endless hours ignoring the fact that the needles I am using are indeed too short for the project. The needles are so short in fact that it is impossible to get an accurate count of anything. The needles are so short that the stitch population tries to conquer new territory off the ends of the needle, breaking through any barrier on the end to have some breathing room. In fact, the stitch population had threatened to begin using birth control unless I got them better accommodations. So, I did.

When I knit the stitches off what I thought was a 32” long needle onto a 60” long needle, I was in for a shock. I had been knitting all this time on a 24” long needle! No wonder the stitches were in rebellion!
No wonder I could not get an accurate count of motifs to know that I only had 13 motifs instead of 14 of the 18 needed as I thought. Let me tell you, it stinks to realize you have 5 motifs left instead of 4 as you thought. Upon confessing this to a friend, she could not help engaging in a little ribbing of her own. “Yeah, 5 more until the body of the shawl is finished. Then the border. Then the edging.” I cut her off, “I know, then the binding off.”

One of the things I did notice when I changed needle lengths was just how ginormous this shawl was going to be. I am knitting it for my grandmother and of late have become concerned that when she wears it she will need something to hold her up. Even in fingering weight yarn, this shawl is heavy. I understand now why Shetland shawls are knit with yarn whisper thin.

Knitting a shawl in the round requires a good deal of commitment – kind of like a relationship. In the beginning you are all excited. Rounds pass quickly as you learn the pattern. With each finished motif, you smooth things out and gaze at how the choice of yarn just causes the pattern to pop. You are in love. You can’t wait to get a few moments to sit down to knit with your beloved. As the relationship grows, things get a little more difficult because the pattern is internalized. It is becoming rote. You still like your shawl, but you start to notice little things. The yarn that is beautiful when knit correctly, but when you make a mistake, the same beautiful yarn is a pain to un-knit and re-knit. You would have knit every round instead of trying to knit garter stitch in the round, because who really likes to purl that much. Then comes the biggie. The nights spent knitting with no perceivable progress toward the border. You aren’t even sure you like spending time together any more while watching Law and Order: Criminal Intent or The Closer, because the shawl no longer does anything to excite you. The shawl-knitter relationship is definitely on the rocks. It is at this point you pull out that pair of Jaywalker socks you are knitting in the fab colors while the shawl pouts in the corner until you get the nerve to pull it out again.

I think of those who knit those whisper fine Shetland and Orenburg lace shawls. Not only did they knit the shawl, but they did all the yarn prep work as well. Of course they didn’t have t.v. or internet to distract them. They didn’t have books on tape to take the boring off. I wonder how they did it. I know they had to knit or freeze and knit or starve, but still, washing, carding, combing and spinning 2000 yds of whisper fine yarn to then knit it – for hours upon hours more.

Then it occurs to me. Knitting was work for them. What I am resenting just a tad in my knitting is that instead of being all fun and early romance, the knitting on this shawl has become to feel like work. If I am honest, it isn’t just shawl knitting that can feel like work. It is at this point that I begin to plan my next project. Slowly I detach from the project in progress and look to the fun, happy, idyllic beginnings of my next project. While I wouldn’t do this in my marriage, it seems that with knitting projects I am feckless and unfaithful. So, I realize that I will need to decide that I will knit some every day on the giant shawl until it is finished. Once I hit the border the love will return, only to die somewhere around the edging, but by then I can grit my teeth and knit it out.