Final project of doooooom

Doom I say.  DOOOOM!

Sigh....

So here's the story (and pretty pictures too)  Some of it, you've heard.  Some of it's new, but I'm starting from the beginning anyway.  I'll make the stuff you've heard quick.

The final project for the Master Spinner Level one course is to be a finished object, taken from "sheep to shawl" if you will.  It doesn't need to be a shawl, of course, it can be what ever you want it to be.  This project, every step included, should take about 25 hours.  Originally I wanted it to be a pair of Chimera mittens, easy enough to spin and knit in 25 hours.  However.  The yarn I spun for them was horrendous, coarse and not really all to nice for a pair of mittens.


You can't really tell here, it looks nice enough, but the texture, the hand, the feel of it, is just off.


Okay. Fine.  Re-group.  Stumble upon the Belinda Shawl on Ravelry.  Gorgeous, fun, and perfect.  So I start spinning my best style of yarn, which is a fine yarn, about lace to fingering, with maybe a few sections just a bit heavier, because I'm not a master yet.  I plan to spin and nature dye the second yarn as i finish up knitting with the first yarn.


beautiful. Has really nice drape.  I'm super proud of all 616 yards.


Then I start on the knitting, choosing to make it 3/4 width, as a) I'm scared I'd run out of yarn (which in all likelyhood wouldn't happen) and b) I'm a small person, so my shawl can be a bit smaller right?  Fine.  I think okay, this will probably take me 10 hours to knit, which is a bit much considering the whole 25 hours of work start to finish.  But whatever, a little extra time wont hurt, if anything, it'll look like I'm an over achiever.
So I take the yarn, and my needles with me on the crazy long road trip to my families place over the Easter weekend.  7+ hours in the truck. Both ways.  So I knit.  And knit and knit.... And I knit once we get there, on and off, when I can find some time.  All the while thinking, geeeze.... I think I over estimated my knitting ability.  But I knit on.


In the hotel, where my fabulous Husband and sister organized a side trip for my birthday. Yay spa and knitting!

   On the way home, I knit for 6 pretty much consecutive hours.  Well, except that nearly 1 hour it took me to frog back 2.5 rows stitch by stitch.


Bad picture, I know.  But you can see the mistake. 

 This.Shawl.Is.Not.Even.Half.Done.  It's maybe 30% done one half .  My best guesstimate is I've put over 15 hours into this thing already.


I'm very happy with the progress I'm making, but the time consumption!  


 And now I wonder, do I start over again?  Make a pair of baby legs for my little girl? Maybe a really simple pair of fingerless mitts, with no pattern to them, just simple around and around and around?  Do I go back to the idea of knitting a cowl, also with no pattern, just around and around and around?

I don't know.  Because truth be told, by the time I get to the end of this shawl, I'll likely have put about 48 hours of knitting alone into the damn thing... Then the spinning and dyeing,  probably another good 15 hours. Which, you don't even have to be good at math, that's a heck of a lot more then 25.

I'll finish this shawl.  I'm committed now.  But do I keep at it for my final project, or make it a leisurely knit and finish it after I'm finished my workbook?

Dangit.

~Kara