A new project

 I don't need another one, but I wanted one. I had found a shawl pattern (Syyslaulu by Heidi Alander) that would work with that denim-blue bamboo yarn I bought last week - it's a big big block of just garter stitch (so: easy) and then the last 50 or so rows are a simple lace pattern. So it's a big, slightly asymmetrical triangle.

 I admit a slight preference for rectangular shawls - if I need a shawl it is to keep my arms warm and given my broad-for-a-woman shoulders, a rectangle really sits better. But triangle shawls are pretty, and often take less yarn, and that's a consideration with more-expensive yarns. 

So I wound off the first skein earlier today. I decided to keep the second skein in a skein until I need it; sometimes those cakes will tangle easily, and bamboo yarn is more prone to tangling and snagging and slipping out of the cake. (They do instruct you to knit from the outside of the cake - with wool, you can usually do it center-pull without any problems, but I decided to heed that advice). 

I started it but then put it down, and because the row counter is new and tight, I couldn't tell when I came back if I'd finished row 10 or row 11, and there's no easy way to see, and I didn't want to cause an error (even though it probably wouldn't have shown) so I ripped it back and restarted; it wasn't very much. Once I get a few more rows done I'll dig out one of my locking stitch markers (like a safety pin, but colorful and made of plastic) and put it on the "right" side (which is the side I do the increase on every row, to make the triangle) and that way if I either forget to change the row marker or it's ambiguous to read, I'll know for sure. This part you just keep going with an increase row and then a plain row until you have enough stitches (for the standard size, that will be like 330 rows, but you can make it bigger if you want if you have enough yarn; there are certain multiples of stitches that will work with the lace pattern; the pattern author listed which ones will work). I have *slightly* more yarn in terms of yardage than what is called for but I think I'll do the standard size to be safe. I hate running short on yarn, which I've had happen once or twice and had to find the best match I had in my stash for the last bit.....

I'd say it was meditative knitting but I find, unlike when I was a more beginning knitter/before my head became so full of bees* that if I really want something to de-track my mind from the horrors of the world, I need something that requires concentration and attention (and yet, ironically, my concentration is worse now than it once was). We'll see how this works, if I can keep working on it or if I get bored

 

(*I don't know if it was the pandemic isolation, lots of grief, menopause, or some combo platter from late 2019 through 2021 or 2022, but I find my concentration is much worse, it's harder for me to overcome the inertia of "just sitting there" some times (like: I will sit and say "I have to get up and fix dinner, if I don't get up now there won't be time to cook the veggies I want" five or six times to myself before I can force myself up, sometimes 15-20 minutes later than I would really want)

I do want to work myself back up to more complicated projects, though. And more complicated reading, though sometimes I still struggle with that.