Girasole is Working!!!!

WELL BLOW ME DOWN WITH A FEATHER!!! I've finished knitting the medallion and have done enough of the edging to be able to see that the pattern looks the way it does on the picture. Oh my gosh! I can knit!!! As you can see, I ran out of pink yarn, so I put a band of grey and a band of green on to finish up. It's a shame, but good enough for a practise stash buster.

Girasole (by Jared Flood) is an easy pattern to knit because:

• It is knit in the round - so no purl stitches anywhere.
• There is a round of plain knit stitches between each 'fancy' row, so you have a nice quick relaxing row between each concentrating one.
• Jared Flood only uses easy lace stitches. K2Tog, SSK, Yarn Over and S one K2tog PSSO - that's pretty much it. Nothing too hard.
• Each circle of the medallion of Girasole has a separate chart, so it's very easy to see where you are, and you are only keeping track of the rows of that chart - no wondering if you are on row 101 or 111!! I think 34 is the largest number to keep track of.
• The repeats are small and easy - say 16 stitches. You can soon memorise that when you are working a 640 stitch round. So, you are not spending ages squinting over the charts.
• I think a couple of the charts are a bit hard BUT when I used markers, I was able to keep straight. Yes, it takes a few seconds longer per row to slip a marker every 16 stitches, but not as long as it takes to tink 640 stitches. The last two charts are not easy to use markers with because when you decrease at the tip of the leaf the marker gets mixed up in it. By then, I was confident to manage without - the final two charts are very straightforward.

The edging does take a long time, but it is simple and easy enough to do. I did have plans to learn to knit backwards but it's so easy to turn the work (you turn the edging, not the shawl) that I didn't bother, and am just relaxing and knitting it English style (throwing not picking). I remember from Andy timing me that settling the yarn takes much longer when you knit Continental, so why bother for 7 stitches?

I'm very pleased with Girasole Would I knit it in real yarn? Well, not on my current income!! If I see a bargain pile of Aran, yes, I would. It's a fun knit and I enjoyed every minute of it. I'd love to see it in a beautiful yarn, BUT, that's a lot of yardage to shell out for and seeing as I still can't think of any use for a Girasole other than a tent carpet, a lot of money to spend on a tent. But if I saw a bargain - oh yes! A lovely dark green, I think. Actually, it would be quite nice to snuggle into to, so if I saw a bargain pile of any double knit I'd make it again just for the fun of it. I don't want another multi-coloured one, though, so it would have to be a big pile!