When we went to New England back in June of 2008. In a yarn store, I saw a completed Clapotis shawl. It was made in Blue Heron Rayon yarn in a lovely chocolate brown colour. I had never seen the attraction to the pattern until that point. So I brought the brown yarn, and when we came home, got knitting. And a few weeks later, I had completed my brown shawl. Which I affectionately named the Shreddies Shawl. This was around the same time the knitted my nanna’s Shreddies advert first aired.
The Shreddies shawl became a staple of my wardrobe. I would throw it on over jeans and a t-shirt during summer evenings out with friends. Drape it over my shoulders at a wedding and even wrapped it around my neck under my coat. Every time I wore it, I always got comments about how lovely it was. Annoyingly this simple shawl got more compliments from muggles (non-knitters) than some of my lace shawls. It wasn’t the shawls or scarves with the complicated patterns that took me months to knit that got the compliments. It was this simple shawl. Then my sister borrowed the Shreddies shawl one day. Now she wears it over a t-shirt whilst shopping or wrapped around her neck in the winter. She gets all the compliments about the Shreddies Shawl.
The First Tale
Then last year, at the Knitting Show at Ally Pally, Mum and I saw the same Blue Heron Rayon yarn. I told my Mum it was the same yarn I made the Shreddies Shawl with and how much I missed it. She offered to buy me another skein. We found a skein that I was convinced was navy and Mum thought was black. But either way, we both loved it. When I read the label, I discovered the colour was actually Aubergine. Last month, I cast on the second Shreddies Shawl. One evening we watched one disc of Battlestar Galactica Season Two box set. And I managed to complete all the increased rows and one repeat of the straight row. I remembered how much I loved this simple pattern.
The Second Tale
In September of 2008, I saw another to-die-for-Clapotis at the iKnit day. This time shawl was made with Knitwitches Silk Laceweight. I brought the yarn, intending to knit another Clapotis shawl. According to my notes in Ravelry, I cast on the project the next day. However, this time my love affair with the shawl didn’t last. But I was bored of the pattern and wanted something a little more challenging. So the project sat at the bottom of my knitting basket for months. Occasionally I would look at the shawl, maybe knit a repeat or two, and then I was bored again.
So last month, I had once again fallen in love with the Clapotis pattern. I figured it was time to re-connected with my old shawl. So I put the new Shreddies Shawl on hold. Much to my surprise, the old untouched pattern was long enough to start the decreasing rows. Which made me wonder why I had left it. So finally, 893 days after I cast off, I have finished my oldest project!
Confess how old is your oldest unfinished project?
Do you plan on finishing it?
Why have you left it so long?