The Mara Shawl

So I think it's time to tackle my longest-standing WIP.
I knitted myself a Mara shawl in June of 2010, and it was so quick and is such a wonderful shawl. I made it with bulky yarn and it came out really big and cozy.

(Really big.)

It's one of my favorite knits to wear, and I love that I can wrap and tie it around my waist so it stays put.

Not incredibly classy, but very warm.

Ain't goin' nowhere.

Anyways, the reason I'm showing you this incredibly old finished object is because of what happened once I showed it to my mom: "OH! Ceci, make me one!!! .... But bigger."
Well, of course, she's my mom and I love her and I was high on new shawl and I thought it was the most charming pattern in the world and I happened to have a bunch of yarn in the stash that would be perfect so.... on June 8th 2010 I cast on for the second Mara shawl.

Knit with Bryspun Kid n Ewe on size 7's

I'm sure you can guess what happened: The pattern quickly lost it's charm.
There was the sensation that I "totally just knit this" and that "it's quickly turning into summer so who needs a huge wool/mohair shawl anyways?" and to top it off, "garter stitch is making me insane!!"
But I worked on it steadily for about a week, knitting a few hundred yards into the thing before realizing I dropped a stitch a few inches back, trying and failing to pick it up cleanly and eventually frogging an entire ball's worth of yarn and throwing it into the closet.
Where it has sat.

I stole the needles for other projects on several occasions, but mostly it just sat.
And sat.

And now, finally, it is time.
I have forgiven it for the dropped stitch, and for the mohair being slightly itchy, and for being miles of endless garter stitch. This shawl has seen so many projects cast on and bound off while it has sat miserable in the closet. After finishing a cabled sweater in less than a month, I just... I don't know, I guess I just feel bad about it. Not to mention my mom's birthday is coming up in April!

So here is where I am at, in comparison to my monstrous shawl (which my mom has stolen on more than one occasion, perhaps as a reminder that I haven't finished hers.)

It needs quite a bit more before I can start the edging. I'm not sure how much bigger to make it, especially since my mom is smaller than myself, but I have plenty of this yarn so I'm thinking I'll knit 2 more balls into it before the ribbing. The rows are pretty long already, and it's sort of driving me nuts. I am so glad they invented TV. Also I'm glad it's rainy outside because it makes a nice snuggly couch project.

So that's what I'm working on.... Miles and miles of garter stitch.

Yep.