18 months, 5.3% more done (but it sure is pretty)

A point was made to me recently that I have a lot of half-finished knitting projects. A L-O-T of them. I think that I have more projects in the "hibernation" state on Ravelry than I have even in the sidebar. And I'm not totally pleased with the last several projects I've started--the blue seasilk scarf is likely to be ripped out, the third Barnraising square is as good as gone, and I'm no longer sure that I like the way Smooshy is knitting up on the Kiila greens. For once, starting something new doesn't seem like the answer (though I might cast something new on this evening, just for kicks).

I did really enjoy knitting the Ishbel, though, so I've been revisiting my (extensive) stock of hibernating lace projects, most notably the Bee Fields Shawl. I started this project in July of 2007, worked on it fairly regularly for six months, and then put it down. I'd like to pretend that it sat because it was winter (and this is clearly a summery color), or because I had to get my Christmas knitting done, but the real problem is the pitfall of the triangle shawl--the ever-lengthening rows. There are three main sections to the shawl (the wonderful pattern is by Anne Hanson), and when I got to the third section I really thought that I was in the home stretch, and I was really excited. Then I used a shawl calculator on Jessica's blog to estimate how much I had left to go, and realized that I wasn't even 60% done. It was totally deflating, and I'm still not quite over it, but it felt like time to take up the Bee again. This past weekend I worked on it a fair amount (but not exclusively), and am back in the swing of the pattern again, more or less. Six rows, 5.3% more done, and I doubled the section three bees. I'm planning to keep this in the rotation for the time being, but even if it slips back off the list, at least I've got that 5.3%.