You maybe, but not me. Sorry to tease you. Even after years of the occasional attempt, and actually (at least sometimes) enjoying the smell of it, I still abhor coffee. The coffee I’m talking about here is the color. Colors. My good friend Denise (sadly blogless) loves her coffee, and each week as I work on this at knit knight she continues to be reminded of her favorite beverage because of the color of the yarn and beads.

Denise asked me the other day if I had a name for this design yet, and I told her what I was thinking of calling it. That just didn’t work for her. She suggested I name it after one of the many kinds of coffee, or perhaps after one of the places where it is grown, such as Antigua. Ooh. I like that. In fact, the more I think about calling the shawl Antigua the more I like it. Thank you, Denise!

I’ve made a lot of progress on Antigua over the last couple of days. The beading is all done, and I’ve moved into the part of the pattern where the ever shorter rows are more obvious and the stitch is simply repeated until it fades into the top center of the shawl.

I have about 240 stitches or so left on the needles at this point, so I’m nearing the halfway mark. Stitch-count wise. This means the rows are 180 and counting stitches fewer than they were to start. The actual knitting is much more than half done.

It was pointed out to me the other day (I think it was Denise, but I could be wrong), that kitting shawls starting with longest rows and ending with the shorter ones is perfect. Most of us have a lot of enthusiasm at the beginning of a project, so the long rows are more fun and exciting at that point. By the time we get to the shorter rows near the top we may be getting bored with the project—the short rows are a relief, and are better at keeping our interest. There’s something to be said for that. I think I agree. I’ll let you know next time I knit a triangular shawl the other way around.