I began knitting Madli’s Shawl early last summer. I picked out the pattern, bought the back issue of Interweave Knits and scoured the internet for a suitable yarn. My mom bought me that yarn for my 25th birthday and I was all set to start. I knit the first edging and 5.5 repeats of the center pattern and set the shawl down. In August. And I did not pick it up again until shortly after Christmas. At which point I made a goof. And my closest lifeline was 3.5 repeats down. So, I ripped and reknit two of those repeats. Only to discover that I had somehow swapped out my size 5 needle for a size 7 when I picked the shawl up again. My yarn-overs, they were gaping. So, I resolved to reknit and tucked it back into my purse. I decided that I needed to buckle down and work on it so Friday night I pulled it from the bag. And discovered this:

The black spots are ink. A pen exploded in my bag. The horror.

I gasped, and then I assessed. All of the ink was in the two repeats that I needed to rip out anyway. I have three times as much yarn as I need [due to a total mistake on my part–a happy mistake it turns out] so TheBoy held the clean end while I ripped the knitting, getting ink smears all over my hands. I cut the yarn, attached a new piece and away I went. I’ve knit back those two offending repeats plus one more. This brings me to 5 of 31. It’s a good thing that I have a lot of time yet.