A Tale of 3 Ishbels, Part 1

Where do I begin?

I fell in love with the lace shawl call Ishbel last summer. I saw my Amy Singer wearing one back in September. (did you notice the 'my'?) So, I bought the book from the designer's website. You can find Ysolda here.

I knew the perfect yarn that would work perfectly on the pattern.

It was Handmaiden Sea Silk in Periwinkle colorway. I was able to score a 150 grams larger hank of this from The Loopy Ewe.

I started doing my research. I had the yarn and the pattern. This was going to be my first shawl actual triangle shawl from a pattern and I wanted it to be perfect. I read the Ravelry discussion boards for the opinions on needles, gauge, circulars verses straights, to use stitch markers or not, counts of each row etc.

I had heard over and over that the pointy tipped needles were going to work the best for me. So, CO on my Ishbel. I was ready, I had my Addi Lace Turbo needles (recently freed up from all that Christmas knitting!).

I was cruising:

I loved how the color was working. It is a little variegated and I was SO happy! However, I paused when I got to the lace portion. I was nervous! So, I waited until a bright sunny Saturday afternoon before Christmas to start Section A. I was off and running. I CAN do this!

Row 1 of Section A - DONE
Row 2 of Section A - DONE
Row 3 of Section A - DONE
Row 4 of Section A - DONE
Row 5 of Section A - something isn't right here

Something is very wrong, I do not have the correct number of stitches at the end of the row to do what the pattern is telling me I need to do. This isn't good. Panic sets it.

I recount the stitches....and again....because the being off on counting truly must be in my head. I must have skipped counting some stitches. I mean how do I lose them when I've been knitting with saying the stitches out loud.

Ok still in panic mode. Maybe I'll just put it away for the night and they say things will be clearer in the morning.

Stay tuned!