Shawl Progress

I started this shawl for my grandmother last Sunday, and I was a little discouraged through the week at how long it seemed to be taking, given how much time it was getting. The cast-on is long, each row is long, and it seemed to be taking a long time. Today, though, I finally finished the first part, which is charted and 18 rows--of which the last few rows, with less patterning, moved a bit faster than the earlier ones had.

Here it is, all scrunched up:

It doesn't look like much, does it? Here's a bit of the edge:

Hmmm, you may be thinking. Not so impressive. Well, here's the thing about lace patterns: they can look like uncooked ramen noodles when you're making them. Lace comes to life in the blocking. Here's a rough approximation of what the shawl edge will actually look like:

Now, that's more like it, campers! Right?

What's more, once I started the next part, I could see that it would move much faster than the first did. This is almost completely stockinette, just knits and purls, and I'm making good progress. I'll get pictures tomorrow or Monday, when it's light outside, but I feel good about it being done in the not-too-distant future.

And that's a good thing.