Six hundred fifty two stitches. That is how long the last row was. Six hundred and fifty two stitches.

It took and hour and a half to bind off that one, very long row.

It was totally worth it.

Pogona in my handspun. Fiber from Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club, July 2012 A Bug’s Life. Spinning the yarn blogged here. Ravelry Project page here.

As my knitting skills increase, I find less and less projects that really challenge me, and therefore knitting has become a little less satisfying. Not that I don’t totally love knitting, because I do. But, as I have stated before, I relish the difficulty, the collection of new skills, and the notches on my belt. Now that I have conquered knitting I don’t get that really big swell of “I did it” emotion when I block out my finished objects. Don’t get me wrong, I get happy and I love the way things turn out and I am excited about creating something beautiful with two pointy sticks and a piece of wool. I just don’t feel like I scaled Mount Everest or really conquered anything. Remember this post in which I was gloriously ecstatic because I had conquered lace? And this post when I finally became a sock knitter (but didn’t know it yet)? It was about the challenge. And I overcame.

Alas, knitting has no more challenges for me. And if that sounds crazy (because we all know that I am not Elizabeth Zimmerman by a long shot and I certainly can’t do it all) than let me clarify by saying that I have learned all that I am interested in learning at this time. I don’t desire to learn entrelac and I  don’t have time to become a proficient designer, and I have done what I want to do.

Enter spinning and a whole new world of challenges. I know nothing. I can do nothing. I have this awesome spinning wheel and some beautiful fiber and every second that I spin takes concentration and effort and heaps of “hope I am doing this right”. Challenge. Thrill. And when I conquer, I feel satisfied.

That is what this shawl is. Satisfying. A great accomplishment. As I pinned it out on the blocking board I felt that feeling well up in my chest.

I did it. I did it well. I conquered.

The yarn is still so flawed and the colors didn’t work out quite the way that I had hoped. But, the knitting was enlightening, teaching me, among other things, that knitting with your handspun is part of perfecting your spinning technique.

It is also terribly satisfying.