Among those of you who saw me publicly admit that I couldn’t knit a simple side-to-side garter-stitch shawl, I doubt many of you have forgotten it. Such humiliation on display. Thankfully, my friend Meg made the perfect suggestion for an alternative: the Lacy Baktus. This might seem counterintuitive but, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. My problem with the other one wasn’t that it’s difficult (obviously). It was that it required just a tiny amount of paying attention — at the beginning of every fourth row — and it’s harder to pay occasional attention than to pay regular attention. There’s too much opportunity for the mind to wander. Plus, the two-part repeat of the Lacy Baktus (easily memorized) means it’s always easy to figure out where I am in the routine. There’s essentially no chance of losing my place. So even though it’s technically (if just barely) a “harder” pattern, it’s way easier not to screw up. For me, at least.

Anyway, Karla my darling, my goal was to have this done for you by your birthday. As your birthday is Sunday, and I’m not to the midway point yet, I think you’ll see that that’s not going to happen. I’ve now been teasing you with this yarn and the promise of a shawl for a full six months. I’m making no promises about when it will finally materialize, but at this point at least I’m convinced that it will. And according to everyone at knit night last night, it’s gorgeous. I promise not to fringe it up.