J'aime Paris

I studied French for 7 years throughout middle school, high school and college. I don't know why but I have a fascination with French things. Before starting 7th grade I found out we could start taking a language class. The choices were French and Spanish and I picked French simply because I thought it sounded prettier than Spanish.  After 8th grade I got to go on a trip with my French class to Paris (and other parts of France and Switzerland). I absolutely loved Paris. Maybe it was because it was my first trip out of the United States and it was something new. Maybe it was because I had studied the place for two years and finally got to see everything in my textbooks. Maybe it was because I felt confident that I knew enough of a language other than English that I could survive in such a far away country. Either way, I have since been to many other cities including Athens, Rome and Florence and in my mind none have compared. Each new city I go to gets compared to Paris, and Paris still wins. You might be wondering what all this has to do with knitting. Well, at the beginning of July I somehow ended up on a pattern called Dinner in the Eiffel Tower Shawl and I had to make it. The yarn is Madeline Tosh and the color is French Gray. I liked how it looked and knew it would be my next project. Eventually I will get some pictures of me wearing it but here is what I have for now:

Before blocking

While Blocking

(If you look close at the right side of the shawl you can see where I must have completely spaced out and stopped knitting eyelets on the last few inches of a row. Oops!)