Gravity Is Not My Friend

This is not the post I expected to write. When next I discussed the Bubbly Curtain I was anticipating an entirely different outcome. One that involved victory and me modestly murmuring, "'Aw. T'weren't nuthin'. "

The warning signs were out there. Did I really think Ann and Kay would specify "The curtain shall be small" if they didn't mean it? And what about those pictures on Ravelry and elsewhere? Very few of the larger curtains actually end at the windowsill. Did you notice that? I noticed, I just didn't let it stop me.

I've blocked this this 3 times now. Okay, the first time I blocked it to 30" by 54" instead of 32" by 52". (Hey. They both add up to 84.) At first I was comforted. I knew it had seemed too squooshed. Blocking wider would open the pattern up better. Fifty-two inches would just graze the window sill.

Only it didn't. It still draped 3 or 4 inches beyond. I blocked it again, this time to about 35" by 49". Still too long. I basted in a hem/rod pocket. Still too long. I rolled it another couple of inches and basted again. Fine. At last. I figured I'd let it hang up for a day or so, experience the excessive humidity that comes with this bathroom (I sometimes suspect Marco was a selkie in a former life), then frog it down a few inches or six and re-knit the finishing rows.

Except it keeps growing. Like Silly Putty. Like warm taffy. Like honey spinning down from a spoon.

I'm beginning to explore alternative solutions. Maybe I want to "hang" the curtain by its sides. Maybe I need to make two curtains, the top one picking up the pattern where the bottom one leaves off. Maybe I need to knit shorter and wider and see what gravity does then. Maybe I just want to go ahead and buy some white Rowan Wool Cotton and start over.

In the meantime, I'm starting a shawl.