It was the night before a friend had her pop-up shop at Black Mountain Yarn, about an hour away, and I had nothing on the needles. Well, not nothing, but nothing really conducive to both chatting and paying attention to charts at the same time. Socks and I have had a falling out–mostly, I just don't have the patience right now.

Because I wanted something relatively easy, with enough interest that would keep my attention, and yet also quick because I'm clearly a product knitter and want the immediate satisfaction of a finished project, I chose a DK weight shawl. This resulted in my pulling some stock from my shop and the decision to tackle the Great Divide shawl by Michele Brown. Having then worked the first few repeats, I felt confident enough in my brain's ability to recall the pattern repeat the next day. I set the project into its bag and went to sleep, promptly ignoring that something seemed off to me. A decent night's sleep later, it was off to the yarn shop the project and I went.

Something niggled at me the night prior, after casting on and starting the color change, and I realized that the two-row color switch was making the yarn choice look muddy. Mud can be nice, but not in my knitting or crochet. Alas, I persevered, because I am nothing if not a staunch supporter of frogging for everyone but myself.

Maybe this will contrast more as additional repeats are done.
And I'm totally knitting at night with bad light.
Seeing everything in the daylight will make things better. Right?
Right. Let's keep going.
This isn't a bad idea at all.

And then, while chatting with some lovely people at the yarn shop, knitting away on my project, I had to face the truth. No, not just the truth. The Truth. Capital letters. It was that much of an issue for me. I was going to have to frog the project and find something else to knit.

With my face pressed up against the glass of The Truth, I put the project back in my awesome hen-patterned KnottyGnome bag, and proceeded to have a good time. The afternoon was mostly spent talking, laughing, avoiding the mini cupcakes, spending money, giving in and having just one cupcake, then later winning a door prize that turned out to be a giant bag of Cascade 220 Aran (yessssss). What I was going to do about the project was in a distant part of my mind–like taxes, or the fact that I need to break down and go to the mall because I'm on the hunt for a good pair of fitted jeans, dammit.

That evening, after returning home and giving everyone a few moments of my attention, because they deserve nothing less, I came to an agreement with myself. After some soul searching, and obviously some Ravelry searching, I realized that the best possible choice for my yarn and sanity was to cast on an Age of Brass and Steam kerchief. Only, since I had two colors selected, and together they equaled more than double the pattern requirements, I'd make the kerchief into a two-colored version and use up all of the yarn for a shawl. There was much self-congratulatory high-fiving. I deserved it.

The original plan was to double the length and use up every bit of yarn I could, but then I remembered I started a stack of DK weight granny squares, and I think these colors would be a perfect addition. Spread the yarn love around to various projects, Brianna.

The shawl is still a work in progress, but I'm already so fast and hard in love with it that I'm tempted to crank down the AC to give myself a reason to wear it once complete.

Age of Brass and Steam by Orange Flower Yarn

Notes

• Using a US 8 (5mm) Chiaogoo Red Twist interchangeable on a 22" cord (overdue for a cord switch)
• Using DK weight yarn, Livy
• Variegated color is From Tails to Legs; Semi-Solid color is a OOAK aqua that matched well
• Working a stockinette section and the YO lace pattern that follows in the same color, then switching colors
• I'm currently at the last large repeat before the pattern calls to wrap it up (check Instagram for an updated shot), but I'm going to do at least one more repeat of both sections

The large block sections of Age of Brass and Steam allow the colorways to contrast and show off. I'm incredibly pleased with how it's coming along and am working on it (almost) every free moment I get. Hopefully it doesn't take me too much longer to finish; I'm pretty impatient.