The Rest of the Story. . .

So the reason why I didn't weave in the ends in August, 2009 was because of bad karma.



When I first had the notion of knitting a mesh, summer shawl that I would wear at the cabin by the lake, I knew I'd use silk yarn--but I never gave thought to the color. At the yarn store, I pulled out matching skeins of Sea Silk. Being a New Yorker, I tend to wear a lot of black, brown, black, navy, black. And those were those colors I set aside. Back into the bin went the pinks and oranges and a variegated blue and yellow.

A few minutes later, I saw a woman take the variegated blue and yellow Sea Silk out of the bin. Suddenly, I remembered what summer at the lake looks like



and I realized the mesh shawl had to be knit from the blue and yellow variegated!

OMG! What had I done?! That woman was carrying my summer in her hands!

I asked her if she intended to buy the yarn. She did. But she wanted to make a sweater with it and needed more yarn. She said she wanted to match the yellow or blue.

I pretended to be looking at patterns, but I kept staring at the woman walking around and around the store. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer and told her that she'd never, ever be able to match the yarn in either color or weight.

She gave me the yarn.

All summer, I'd see that woman in the neighborhood. I thought it odd that I kept running into her. I'd get on a bus--she'd be there. I'd walk down the street and she'd be having coffee at an outdoor cafe. Every time she saw me she'd ask, "How's our yarn?" She told me she regretted giving it up--the yarn seemed to be one-of-a kind.

I worked on that shawl all summer. I didn't finish it in time to wear at the lake, but I worked on it there. I'd hold it up in the sunlight and delight in the sun, sky and water that was being knit.

Then I finished the shawl and tried it on. ICK! It looked like a rag. The drape was just too, too much. And so I put it away. I also thought there was bad karma going on. Did that woman curse the yarn? Did she doom the project each time she saw me?

Thoughts of the shawl, the bad karma and the woman faded.

But recently, I was looking for something in a closet and found the unfinished Summer Lake Shawl--the Bad Karma Shawl--in a sweater bag. I took it out--it still looked like a rag on my shoulders. But then I looped it and draped it and there it was--a perfect Spring scarf!



I haven't seen that woman in quite a while. She doesn't seem to be in the neighborhood anymore. Has she taken her bad karma with her and moved away? Is my shawl--my scarf--now free to enjoy the sunlight and blue skies?