Shawldown.

When I decided to try to finish two beaded lace shawls by the 22nd, I thought I might be a little bit crazy. When I agreed to volunteer my services knitting another one for a charity auction, I knew I was crazy. (You may notice that I was careful not to promise any concrete deadline!)

I'm still cautiously optimistic about finishing the current two on time. Jo's Pride is practically done - all that's left is the blocking and seaming for the top of the hood.

I gave in and ordered blocking mats and wires the other day, so this can rest until they arrive.

The Nouveau Beaded Capelet, on the other hand, is... giving me some issues. Does this look like where you want to be a month into a shawl, with ten days to go?

To be fair, I'm actually more or less halfway done with it, since it starts out very large and the rows get smaller and smaller as you progress. Still, I calculated a while back that in order to finish on time, I'd have to knit six rows a day. At this point I'm finding it difficult to manage even three a day.

I'm still quite in love with the design though. The lotus-like pattern at the bottom of each scallop looks so elegant, and even if all of these beads and horizontal bar yarnovers are a pain to manage, there's no denying they look wonderful.

(note to self: clean my sofa immediately after these shawls are done.)