Day 30: This just in... An Olympic knitter last seen heading in the wrong direction, wandered down a forest path in a vain and misguided, if not valiant attempt to attain a gold medal has been discovered meandering her way through the woods and talking to the trees. Deep in denial she has been seen muttering dark and demented rants and clutching her very sharp and pointy bamboo double pointed needles.
(rumor has it that in a bold move to improve the efficiency of manipulating the fine material into lace, it was the knitter herself that honed her instruments to the potentially hazardous points and having done so, put her work at risk of being bled upon or of possibly suffering an even worse fate of splitting the strand. None the less, she contends that it would have been nigh unto impossible of having any hope of finishing without having done so.)

Although appearing calm, the knitter seemed disoriented and confused as to how or why she came to be in such a predicament, seeking answers she sought consolation from the trees about her. Who's stupid idea was this anyway? Citius, Alitius, Fortius, indeed, just who does she think she is? What makes her think that anyone could actually finish such Herculean tasks? I heard that she doesn't even know any Finnish. Okay, so who knew that she would actually pull it off? I mean really, who thought she would actually be able to pull off knitting the Hardangervidda? And in sixteen days, no less. Whatever. She's just trying to make me look bad. I've been set up, that's what, yeah, that's it, set up.
Well, I'll show them, I'll show them all. I will follow this path that I've been set upon, I'll follow it through to it's completion and when I reach the end I will have a drop dead gorgeous shawl that is delicate and airy, so soft and deceptively warm. Who needs a gold medal anyway? Ppff, gold is all like, yellow and stuff, gold is for chicken wusses anyway. Who wants gold when you can have white gold? That's right white gold, I'll have platinum grey Forest path stole, so there.

Okay, a few specifics for those who have asked. I am using the needle size the
pattern suggests which is 3.25 mm. I am using bamboo double point needles that
I've sanded to sharper points because I can't pick up or knit multiple stitches
together on such a fine strand with blunt ends. To purl the five stitches for
the nups in the lily of the valley pattern I find it easier to slip the first
two stitches, purl 3 together and then pass the slipped stitches back over that
stitch. The yarn I'm using is an extra fine Merino cashwool. I don't know, but I
think that it is a finer yarn than the lace weight that the pattern uses. But it
seems to be working fine, so I'm going with it.
The cat's name is Hobbes and
the reason it's so white behind him is because there is a doosey of a snow storm
blowing outside the window.