Growing and Growing -- Lace Shawl

Passed a major milestone knitting the blue lace shawl.  I finished the big triangle which forms the wrap-it-around part of the shawl.  Now I'm knitting on the border.  Tedious -- 6 stitches, increasing to 13, back to 6 and all in 8 rows.  Then repeat and repeat and repeat.

Lace shawl with the beginning of the border

The little triangles on the border go from upper right down to the point and back up to the left.  Then when that's done, a crochet border across the top.  So get ready for another post when I get to that point.  Right now it feels like I'm slogging thru quicksand.  The more I knit, the farther I have to go.  Every time I finish one set of 8 rows, there's another set to do.  

Life lesson perhaps:  Knitting borders on shawls is like washing dirty dishes.  You wash one and another dirty one appears.  Not sure what the lesson is, except that -- like the dirty dishes -- twill all come clean in the end and I will have a gorgeous lacy shawl as a result of my labors.

Here's a shot of the border with its pattern.  Hoping you can see the codes and symbols.  In this case, every row is different, so there's no taking a break on this one.  Attention, pay attention.  Pay close attention.

I'm using what's called a double-pointed needle.  It's about 5 inches long,
with a point on each end.  (Can't find the ruler, so this will give you
a sense of size.  Knitting notions disappear often into the
cushions of the sofa or another project bag.)

The border is open and provides an interesting finish. The pattern is from Victorian Lace Today, by Jane Sowerby.  She re-incarnates the patterns from Victorian knitters and each shawl and scarf is a gorgeous testament to the ladies who put knitting into print.  Book also shows early patterns -- and if you think the above chart is unfathomable . . . 

One more picture to give you a better idea of how the border looks next to the body of the shawl.

Now, isn't that wonderful?

Measurements?  Don't know.  On purpose.  Not interested in learning I have 17 miles of border to knit and oh, by the way, I'm only a half mile into the journey.  I'll get there when I get there and along the way these 8 rows and I will become BFF and I will continue to marvel at the unfolding of the garment.

Back to the border.  Make it a great day.  The cookies were a big hit at dinner last night.  There's a few left and I'll try to use their chocolate-ness as an excuse not to eat them.  Sticky fingers leave horrible stains on silk yarn and I'll be knitting most of the day.