Waiting for the Sun

I thought about just posting this shawl, telling you it’s Ute Nawratil’s Waiting for the Sun, and maybe saying nothing more. I like this shawl so much I can barely find the words.

First, what it’s made of. That’s easy to write about. I used exactly what  Nawratil used in the main pattern photo: Lang Yarns Mille Colori Baby in colorway 14 Infrared and Schachenmayr-Regia Uni 4-ply in the Athrazit colorway. The color-changing Mille Colori is 100% merino. The Schachenmayr-Regia is basically a sock yarn, in “75% wool, 25% nylon.” The sock yarn was totally solid to work with. The Mille Colori, not so much. It’s thick, thin, very thin, and a bit fuzzy. But the colors! Goodness, the colors, There were stretches of the Mille Colori that were basically black and I, as well as Nawratil, cut out those sections as I encountered them. This pattern works best when the solid color isn’t repeated in the color-changing yarn.

My Waiting for the Sun is 66 inches along the top edge and 25 inches at its deepest point. This result is after I soaked it and laid it flat, pinning only the top to ease the shawl into a semi-circle shape.

Here’s a closeup.

And yet another look.

I am in awe of people who can design stuff like this. I was fearful of knitting it. And there were a few “technical” challenges. You can read more about those here if you want a deeper dive into the pinhole caston, the directional shifts, or that long I-cord bind-off that is partly knitted on with picked up stitches and partly worked on live stitches.

I bought my yarn about two years before I cast-on. I kept looking at the yarn, and at the pattern photos, and at the projects and notes of 96 Ravelers who’d knit this before I did. I gobbled up every bit of advice I could gather–even before I actually purchased the pattern. I did what I don’t characteristically do (but should). I read the pattern before I started to knit it.

Do you remember being in say, 6th grade? Do you remember looking at your math book at the start of the year?  Stay with me now. Those first few chapters looked manageable. But the last few chapters? Didn’t they just scare the bejesus out of you? I mean, heavens to Betsy, I’ll never be able to do that. Let’s see if I can convey it with yet more archaic phrases. One of them might make sense to at least some of you.  For crying out loud, this is way too hard. For Pete’s sake, I’m toast.

When I do read a pattern beforehand I fairly regularly can’t make heads or tails of it. But once my needles are in my hands, it makes sense. This time I read the pattern first. Some made sense. A number of the sections left me scratching my head. I felt like that 6th grader taking a peek at the back of the math book.  So I put off knitting Waiting For the Sun.

Finally, I trusted the pattern. The pattern didn’t fail and didn’t let me fail. I am so very glad that I stopped waiting and knit this shawl. It’s already a favorite on these chilly fall days.