I started knitting the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits right before vacation, thinking it would be a great island knitting project. I had been planning to make this because a couple of years ago I impulse-bought a single ball of Misti Alpaca, and that was never quite enough for a project, or else it was way too much. So when I saw this pattern (which calls for a single ball of Misti Alpaca), I set the yarn and pattern together with the plan of working on it when I had a week or two of vacation time.
Maine seemed like the perfect time. Of course, I failed to remember just how dark it is without electric lighting, and so the few repeats of the lace pattern I managed are a trifle sloppy (it'll work out in blocking, of course, but I'm kind of a perfectionist), and I eventually gave up.
On the other hand, I've been able to work on it while cogitating on the subject of exterior walkways this week, and knitting doesn't seem to bother my left shoulder, which is in angry protest of all the jellying and marmelada-making of the last week. So I've made some decent progress.
See:
That's six of fourteen repeats for the body pattern. The lace pattern is, as others blogging about it have noted, easy to learn well enough that you don't need to be obsessing over the chart. But it does require more of my attention than making, say, a sweater usually does (because I have yet to make a lace sweater, I suppose).
And here's the lace pattern up close.
