sky ladder--finis!

Done, done, and done!!

Whew!! What a sea of white that was to complete!!
But ohhh how I love thee...
let me count the ways!

I love thee as a wrap, or donning it ol' skool like a babushka, or worn as a scarf, and I like it just plain layin' around where I can admire it! I think it will get quite a bit of wear, even when I'm hanging out on the couch or reading in bed at night. I swear it's big enough that it covers me up way better than any silly slanket ever could. Way cuter, too ;-) This thing is so huge that I even was wearing it while I was knitting the final rows! LOLOL

It's about 1250 yards, and it's finished size is 78" by 21". I took me exactly a month to get it done, and once I started it, I don't think I knit on anything else, except for a few rows on a cuff of a worsted weight slipper sock to show the high school kids as a sample. Frequently when I'm knitting in public, people will ask me how long it takes me to knit something, and quite frankly, I have no friggin' idea. I should time myself sometime just so I can answer them. I am definitely not a fast knitter stitch by stitch (because I'm a thrower). But what I can tell you is how many television hours it took me to knit this sucker (which is a little sad, but hey...I was sick for 2-1/2 weeks of the month that I knit this and that has to count for something). Aside from a few rows here and there at a knitting group or sitting in the car waiting for the kid to be picked up from practices, this wrap was knit almost entirely in front of the boobtube. So. I can tell you this: that I watched every season of The Tudors (39 episodes), a documentary about the Civilian Conservation Corps, season 1 of The Colony (10 episodes), and the entire Ken Burns series about World War II (7 episodes, each about 2 hours). I am estimating that this means that I have at least 70 hours in this thing.
Sheesh.

What's also interesting to note about my gluttonous television habits during this project, is they were all pretty stressful. Look at what I watched!! Loads of beheadings, people working their way out of the dustbowl and the great depression, then a series about people fighting for survival after a natural disaster, and then many many hours of combat footage. When I got this shawl off the needles, it was 2 inches narrower in width than it was from the start. For the non-knitter, this means my knitting got tighter and tighter and I progressed through the project...hahahaha! I am happy to report that it "all came out in the wash", so to speak. It's all nice and even looking now. The wonders of blocking never cease to amaze me. But still. Holy crap!!

I think there's one other reason that this project took me so long, and that's because there were a lot bits of grass and nepps in this wool. I don't really mind the grassy bits and reminders of the farm (to be honest, I finding them charming), but the nepps. Gah! Nepps are bascially little pilly bits of pain in the arse, and there were a kajillion of them stuck into this yarn that (imho) should have been processed out of the fiber before it was spun, and long before it got into my hands. It was making the fabric look like crap, and so I would stop every time I would come to one and pick it out....which was every few inches. It slowed me down considerably, and sorta made me want to stick my knitting needles in my eyes every once in awhile. This is what I picked out from just the first 400 yard skein.

That would be hundreds of little sticky balls of irritation. Now multiply bag that times 3. That was a lot o' frustrated twitchy pickin' at things. Made me feel like I was grinding my teeth sometimes, a bit like a tweaker ;-) LOL

I'm happy to report though, that sans nepps, the yarn is super great. Warm and sheepy and bouncy and squishy! Soft, blocked well. Farmed and milled here in the USA, which also makes me happy.

The pattern, by the way, is called Sky Ladder. It's really a pattern "set". Anne Hanson, the designer, used the stitch patterns on a scarf, two sizes of wraps, a baby blanket, and a throw...so the pattern includes all the options. At present, it is only available to club members, but you can be a "pattern only" club member and not get the kits with the included yarn. I do believe once the club ends, the patterns go up for individual sale, so you should be able to purchase it eventually ;-)
Here's a link to my ravelry project page.

I'm not quite sure what I'm up to next....there is a matching hat for this, and I really like the looks of it (it's totally my style), and I do have enough yarn left over to complete it...but me thinks it needs to have a little color in my life! And more knitting outside with less television!!