More Shawl Progress

I am feeling a bit out of sorts at the moment.  I went to see both my consultant and my GP 2 weeks ago.  I've been put on the waiting list to have more surgery to remove my new adhesions.  I've been told the waiting list is "a few months" long by the consultant.  The letter confirming my place on the waiting list is equally vague, telling me that they will "contant me to nearer the time" to book a "mutually convenient time" for my surgery.  It appears that I am seeing the changes to NHS funding in effect.  I had the same surgery last April, with the same consultant and I only had to wait 6 weeks for my surgery.  I am not looking forward to this vague, open ended wait.

I went to the GP to increase my pain killers again, which he agreed to do and this is what has left me off kilter.  I'm a bit disconnected from everything, my body, my intellect and the rest of the world.  It is great from a pain management point of view, not so great from a crafting and blogging point of view!  I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks I will start to feel a bit more myself again.  Until then, I'm carrying on with fairly simple projects.

The main culprit in my simple knitting is the Color Affection KAL.

I love this project.  It's soothing garter stitch stripes are perfect for a crafter with very little brain.  It is also perfect for the start of Wimbledon fortnight.

I did think about swapping the centre part of the shawl to the other side, but I left that decision too late.  The only way to swap the sides is to purl either the centre section OR the short rows.  The short rows take up the vast majority of the shawl, and I didn't want to purl that big section.  If I was to do this project again, which is looking increasingly likely, I would do the centre section in purl, and then the short row section could be done in knit.  This is the only way to avoid the stripes looking funky, as they would be RS on one part and WS on the other part of the shawl.

The twisting of the yarns as they are carried up the side gives a nice neat finish on the edge, but causes a knotty mess in my lap as the threads get all tangled.  The cat thinks it's a great game as I unravel the mess that the twisting creates.  Still, it's worth it for the neat edge.

I am still adoring the subtle variations in each of the yarns.  It really softens the striping.  I think the above photo shows the colour variations better than any other photo I've taken of this project, it is also the truest match to the colours of the yarns in real life.

I'm now getting quite close to the end of the short rows and then it is on to the border.  I might get this shawl finished this week, you never can tell.  Mind you, even if I don't, I have a finished object to share on Friday!