Not much to say (but there are some YOL spoilers)

I'm in the thick of Christmas knitting and in order to keep such things a in a semi-surprise state, I won't be posting any details or pictures other than very vague percentage done-type updates. One project has already been frogged 4 times for really silly mistakes and is only about 10% done, but the other project is going really well. I would say about 25% finished in just a couple of days. I'm going to slow it down a bit by working on my latest Year of Lace project in between bits. I've completed the set up chart and one repeat of the main body chart (a total of about 40 rows). I might be able to knit a bit faster, but I keep stopping to stroke, pet and otherwise fondle the knitted lace material; it's 100% cashmere and so buttery soft, I can't help myself!

I've made two decisions about knitting this shawl. The first is that I will be true to the pattern and do the p2togtbl (that's purl 2 together through the back loops, for those non-knitterly types) instead of the substitute p2tog (purl 2 together) as recommended and because this is patterned lace on every row, alternate rows (the rows of the p2togtbls) cause me to curse and make me wonder why I decided to do that to myself..... The second decision is that I'm definitely going to use lifelines (scroll down to "fixing mistakes" and click the video for "lifelines" to find out what they are and how to use them) for this project. I've never used them before and only rarely have regretted it (listen to me, eh... I sound like I'm an expert in lace and lifelines, but I've only been knitting lace since earlier this year and learned about lifelines around that time), but this time I think it's a necessity. There are very few straight purl rows that would be easy-ish to frog back to and I really don't want to have to start over when (notice I said "when" and not "if") I get distracted and mess it up.

Anyway... here is a picture of my shawl so far:



Purdy, ain't it....