A Challenging Knitting Project

I have been working on the most difficult knitting project to date in my short knitting career - Catkin by Carina Spencer.  I finished the swatch for it a few weeks ago - but unfortunately only took its picture this morning.  It came out exactly the right size and looked wonderful - before it was eaten by my vacuum cleaner.  Note to self:  Take pictures as soon as you finish something and don't vacuum where you can't see in case something has fallen to the floor unnoticed.

It looks a little sad now - but I am very proud of the fact I figured out some very difficult stitches (and using a chart no less.)

The yarn I am using is Classic Merino Supersock by Knitting Notions in Azure and Pumpkin Spice.

I am finished with the first 70 rows of the shawl now - the easy part and am getting ready to work from charts - a very new experience for me.

  Currently at 233 stitches - a circular needle with a longer cord will be required soon.  

The only problem I can see with the pattern is that it starts with 5 stitches and at the end there are 545stitches.      So every row takes longer, and longer, and longer . . .