Much Excitement - Knitted Wearables

If finishing one medium-ish sized project means I can call myself a knitter, then I am a knitter.
And that's kind of cool.

Because I've finished something beyond a dishcloth. Something of actual size and substance.
Also something that caused me a bit of trouble, that I had to restart about four times. sigh Also something that has a few holes because of two dropped stitches that I didn't notice until too late, but we won't talk about that. Shh, you don't see them. *insert Jedi hand-wave here*

In all seriousness, though, I'm quite proud of myself. Also: Pleased. Chuffed. Excited. Thrilled, even!
Because not only is it a decently sized project, but it's a wearable that I will have no shame in wearing once chillier weather hits (which, should be soon).

A word of warning, though - I had nowhere outside to take photos (that wasn't covered in bugs!), so these are all from in the house. And while there was sunlight for the ones in the living room, somehow the colors just didn't turn out quite right. Fiddling with them a bit does no good, either. I will notate which ones are more true to color, but the idea and work will show through whether the color is 100% or not.
Another word - the yarn I used. It's a Michael's brand yarn, the Loops & Threads variety, in Silky Soft. However, they no longer make that product. I've had two skeins in my stash for quite a long time, but didn't know it couldn't be had anywhere. The color is called Orchid, and it's quite a decent yarn for the price I paid (cheap, which is why I bought it in the first place), so I'm a bit sad you cannot buy it any more. But, all this to say I would link you to it, but I cannot as it doesn't exist.

Let's get on with it, though!

First things first, the pattern. It is a free pattern on Ravelry, which can be found here, and it is called Nurmilintu, which is explained as coming from a Finnish lullaby and the bit translated to English means "sleep, sleep, little bird" - which is cute, I suppose, but I'm not sure how it translates into a shawl. No complaints, though (other than I won't be able to pronounce the name!).

The pattern itself is written well (as I understood it, and I'm a beginner), though I did have a bit of a hangup coming to the charted bits. Which is my own problem, really, as I'd never done anything that had a chart of that kind (even in crochet, though I don't know if that even uses similar charts). The repeats bit was what got me, because the stitch numbers just didn't add up - apparently, you just do the first bit, repeat it as much as you can, then do the end bit. Then it worked out (except for when I screwed up in my counting, and that was of no fault of the pattern).

The color here is a bit lighter than the actual yarn. Also, don't notice that dropped stitch. 

Gratuitous stitch shot, as always. But figured I would start here to show what's going on - large blocks of garter stitch, then an 18 row section of "lace" which is not lace for me. The pattern does not call for a 4-weight yarn, so the lace is just a bunch of sort of coordinated holes. Which, honestly, works out best for me, as I know I screwed up quite a bit on the first two sections of lace. The first go around, I ended up short some stitches. After the second lace section, I was ahead a few stitches. The third section, luckily, ended up with the right count, for the edging, but I know that I screwed up somewhere in the actual repeats in that section as well.
At least I think I did - the yarn is just too thick to be able to tell.

Again, the yarn is a bit darker than this. Not by much, but a bit. Also, I'm still horrible about weaving in ends.

The last edge is a picot bind off, which was rather time consuming, but I'm glad I learned it. The Mister, though, (the naughty man) said they looked like nipples, and now I'm not sure I enjoy it as much. I'm trying not to think about it!
And again, the lace bits are just...really, decorative...with this yarn. Which is fine by me - it's warmer using a thicker yarn, and more cozy!

Somehow, this picture is more purple. Think, though, it's between this color and the color of the previous two pictures. It really is a weird color - and according to Google, "orchid" isn't even a suitable name for it!

I didn't block this, because that requires buying an iron (as acrylic yarn can apparently be blocked with steam) and blocking pins and the space to do it, which just isn't necessary for this. I splayed it on the floor, flattened it out with a pet or two (with my hands, not with the dogs!), pulling it in the right way, and it's worked out just fine.

Add a twinge of pink, I think, to this and the color will be correct. It should have come out right, because the carpet has helped everything else come up color correct, so I'm disappointed it didn't.

According to the photos I've seen of others' completed projects, this is a bit too curvy of a finished object. But really, I'm alright with it. Once it's on, you can't notice.

Still just too dark. 'Tis a shame.

I do think something like this would be done better in thinner yarn, or maybe not as dark of a color, simply because the lace-y bits just blend in so darned much. Covers up my mistakes, though!

Because bathroom selfies, right? Take out the yellow-hue from the lights, and the color is correct. 

For size, it's pretty darned decent. It's a bit thick, but not in a way that makes it uncomfortable or difficult to wear. It definitely has some substance to it, but not in a bad way. It is rather thick on the back of the neck, but that will be nice when it's cold out - especially since I prefer to have my hair up!

Finally, the color is correct! It's like magic! Though I'm sure it's just the yarn being finicky, as to why none of the other photos turned out right.

Much thickness at the back of the neck. But not tight about the front of the neck or anything like that.
My only issue is going to be actually wearing it and not losing it, as I've never actually worn a shawl before. I've worn it while taking the dogs out, and about lost it before I was back in the house. But I think that's from just chasing them about, half bent over, chatting to them to hurry up and not act like bloodhounds!

Overall, I'm quite pleased. And I've learned quite a bit, which is always nice! I'm no master knitter, but I do feel quite accomplished.
All I've been doing since I started out is knitting, honestly. Watching YouTube, I'm knitting. Watching a movie, I'm knitting - I actually watched almost all of the prequels on Friday while knitting (Star Wars, for the win!). Putting off doing chores, I'm knitting. And as such, I started on this project on the 2nd of September, and finished it on the 9th of September.

And Ravelry, oh my goodness, has been a wonderful help. One, that's where I found the pattern. Two, it's where I was able to look up if I was going crazy about the lace repeats or not. Third, it's where I kept all the notes about working on this. So, if you're interested in updates on how things are going, you can check out my project page (and while you are there, add me as a friend!).

~Havok

[edit 9/14/15: Added to the Merry Monday Linkup]
[edit 9/17/15: Added to Dear Creatives Blogging Linky Party]