on lace and goodbyes

When someone very important to me told me she would be moving away, someone who had done a great deal for me over the years and for whom I have never done a damn thing, I knew I should do something nice for her. She had always admired my Ishbel, and so I thought something like that would be nice, but not exactly like it because I like variety in my crafting.

So I was looking for a small-medium sized shawl involving some lace - either all-over simple lace or just a little lace, along the lines of the Ishbel, and preferably something that would work in a lightweight sock yarn, since that's what I had to work with. Enter Emily. Now I will straight up admit that I am not a lace knitter. I can do it fine, but it's not my favorite thing, and I am almost never drawn to big lacy shawls. Ever. But the sideways asymmetry of this pattern really grabbed be. Knitscene did a great job shooting that shawl, in my opinion. It looks very casual and natural on the model. So many modeled shawl shots often look awkward or too magickal-fairie-dust-esque for my taste. So I grabbed some malabrigo sock and cast on.

And I fell deeply, passionately in love with the results. So much so that it made giving up the shawl even more painful than it was already going to be. The lace pattern was easy, but there were enough things happening around the edges that it kept me interested the whole time - no small feat when we're talking about the world's most easily distracted crafter. And then there was the blocking! Magical. (Not magickal.)

And in the end it's taken me a month and a half total to hand over the shawl, post the pictures, and write a blog entry on it. In the end I managed it all by clenching my jaw, forcing back the tears, saying goodbye and walking away.