Can you spot the mistake in my new shawl?

It’s glaringly obvious to me. Well ok not so glaringly obvious as the piece grows. In fact the mistakes seem to shrink and even disappear the larger the shawl becomes and the more rows I knit. But when I first noticed them, I had to force myself NOT to rip the whole thing out and start all over again – that’s how anal I am about my knitting! It took all the restraint I could muster.

Recently I was coaching a friend through her first pair of socks and she asked me about the difference between “k2tog” (knit two together) and “ssk” (slip a stitch, slip the next stitch, knit the two together). After all, they’re both decreases right? There’s the rub as they say. The difference is the direction that they lean. “k2tog” leans to the right and “ssk” leans to the left and it makes a big difference when you’re knitting lace and pretty, decorative leaf patterns. It makes all the difference in the world.

I started this, the Kiri Shawl, the other day having seen it on a blog that I eagerly follow called the A.D.D. Knitter (why should knitting be any different?). Heather sold me on this pattern by writing on Ravelry

“Such a great pattern, very easy to follow and see where you are at all times. The wing span on this mother is impressive, too!”

And she’s right! IT is very easy to follow…surprisingly. Once you get a few rows into it, you kind of get into the rhythm of the lace pattern. Just as long as you keep the “k2tog” and “ssk” straight, don’t confuse the two and remember which way you’re leaning.