Ta da! I'm done, and I'm so relieved. For awhile there, things weren't looking so good.

I picked Icarus for my Amazing Lace Project. As soon as that Interweave hit the shelves in the Spring, I just fell for that shawl. It reminded me, not of a boy who got his wings fried off and crashed to the sea, but of a butterfly. My favorite t-shirt when I was a kid had a butterfly, and in looking back on childhood pictures, I was always wearing a huge smile along with that butterfly t-shirt. So, I "swatched" lilac Zephyr and cast-on. When I say "swatched" I mean that I didn't swatch for gauge, but for the fabric that I wanted. So, I began knitting . . . then I began sleeping . . . and then I got distracted. That first chart is such a bore to knit I just wasn't sure I would get through it.

Then, I resolved in August to get some unfinished projects off the needles, and I designated Icarus just such a project. I took it up with new resolve. However, when I did, I noticed a HOLE in a yarn over column. How could that have happened??? I inspected it closely - it was no moth hole, and believe you me, I know I moth hole when I see it. Then, I remembered - for one of my Amazing Lace Challenges (the one where you had to hide you knitting in a photo a la Where's Waldo), I had smooshed up Icarus into a ball, and hooked it to my toilet paper roll (because that's about how I was feeling about it at the time). I must have poked a hole. What a moron! Anyway, I darned up the hole - its close to the top, and my hair kind of falls over it anyway.

Chart 3, Chart 4 and the edging are much more interesting - and I found myself getting curiouser and curiouser about how the thing was going to look. I began knitting at furious pace- and, just before bind off - I ran out of yarn. Geesh. Could this project be fraught with more obstacles? Luckily, my LYS had just enough left on the cone to allow me to finish it off.

During the hate period of my love/hate relationship with Icarus, I thought about gifting it when I was done. But, now, I don't want to part with it - and I really need to cook up a fancy night on the town so I can wear my wings!

Good luck to everyone - especially those plowing through Chart 1 - hang in there - it's so worth it!