Disclaimer: If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones through the current episode, Season 8 Episode 4, then you may not want to continue reading this article. There may be spoilers contained within. Also, this is not a sponsored post. I am participating in a Marinade Designs GoT KAL at my own expense and just want to share my progress with our readers. No compensation is being received from the KAL designer.
Previous GoT Show Thoughts/KAL Progress Posts:
Welcome to the Winter Is Here – My First Game of Thrones KAL article series! First, we will check in on the progress I made this week on the Game of Thrones shawl knit along I’m participating in and then discuss thoughts on episode 4 of this final season of GoT.
If you’ve read any of the three previous posts in this Game of Thrones KAL series that I’ve published, then you will recall that my family has been dealing with some illness — stomach virus and severe sinus infections — over the last several weeks.
I think we’re all finally over the hurdle on the illness front. The stomach virus is long over and my son and I finished up our round of strong antibiotics for the sinus infections this week. Mostly, I feel pretty good. The antibiotics put a huge damper on my appetite, but I had to eat when taking them or risk them upsetting my stomach. So — mostly I lived on toast and oatmeal, with the occasional fried egg. And water. Lots and lots of ice water — because I like to chew ice (and that melting ice sliding down my throat soothed the soreness from all the coughing, too).
I’m moving right along on the Marinade Designs Game of Thrones Ice and Embers Shawlette KAL themed for the final season of the show. It’s an asymmetrical design, so as I work through the knitting pattern the rows progressively get longer and longer since an additional stitch is added about every other row.
I was pretty impressed with myself this week in terms of the amount of work I was able to complete on the project. I have felt better, so have spent more time working on it than previous weeks when I felt worse.
Here’s a quick recap of what my progress on the Ice & Embers Shawlette looked like after each of the previous three weeks of work:
But, check this out. Week Four progress really kicked it up a notch!
As usual, I started by weaving in all the blue yarn tails from last week’s work. Then I moved on to adding new rows to the length of the shawlette.
It may be a bit hard to see the new blue yarn tails against the dark countertop, but I hope you can see where they start and appreciate how many more rows I was able to complete this week than in any week before.
Also, the pattern for the shawl is broken up into three sections. Section One starts at the small tip of the shawl (on the left here, where you see the purple stitch marker) and progresses upward, widening as new stitches are added periodically.
I was able to complete all of Section One of the pattern. Yay! I’ve just started into Section Two, which has wider sections of the dark blue yarn. Can you see that last blue stripe on the right hand side, at the widest end of the shawl? That’s the beginning of Section Two of the pattern.
It’s fantastic! Here’s a closeup of those wider blue stripes. It utilizes 4 rows of the dark blue (versus just two rows in each stripe in Section One) and creates a gorgeous design element with what I’m calling Little Peekaboo Holes. They have no name [“a girl has no name”, ha ha] by the designer, that I’m aware of.
I’ll admit. I was worried that my skills as a knitter had not progressed far enough to get this part of the pattern. I’ve only been knitting for a few years and not done many intermediate or advanced skills patterns. I figured that if I just couldn’t get it, I would do the simpler striping as it’s done in Section 1 and call it good.
But, I got it on the first try! I just went with the pattern and trusted that it would all go fine. And it did. So relieved — and proud of myself. New skills, accomplished! I am delirious with anticipation for Section 3 of the shawlette pattern which features a Dragon Scale Lace design. That’s gonna be so fun!
You’ll notice some of the photos were taken outdoors. We’ve had a couple of days of simply beautiful weather here in Kentucky. Sun shining, warm temps with a mild breeze. So, I took advantage and spent a little time outside sitting with one of my chickens, Khaleesi, to do a little knitting.
Yes. Khaleesi. Clucker of the Backyard Grass Sea. Grazer of Chicken Grains and Grass Blades. Snacker of Diced Tomatoes and Apple Slices. Layer of Tiny Eggs. White Haired Queen of the Lands of Kentucky.
Of course we named the Queen of our flock after GoT! 🙂
After the epic battle with the Night King in last week’s episode, I was glad to scale it back a bit this week and join the North in bidding a final farewell to those lost in The Long Night battle.
Notable tidbits from the show for me this week were Dany’s teary goodbye to Ser Jorah Mormont, the tragedy of the decimation of House Mormont with little Lady Mormont among the dead (may the gods rest her pint-sized hero’s soul), Dany’s uncharacteristic begging plea to Jon to keep his lineage to himself (followed, of course, by his immediately telling all the sibs all about it), the tension-filled war council where Sansa and Dany squared off on whether to rest the remaining troops or get right back up on that horse and attack Cersei, and Jon’s lackluster goodbye to Ghost (that pup deserved a hug at least!). But, at least Jon did right by Ghost in sending him off to the far North with Tormund Giantsbane who will take good care of him. Ghost can lick Tormund’s face and snuggle with him on the long cold nights as Tormund heals from the heartbreak of Jaime stealing his longtime crush, Brienne.
And now we have Ser Jaime Lannister ditching his new girl, Ser Brienne of Tarth, to head to King’s Landing where his former sister-love is. Shame on Jaime for one-and-doning it to that sweet Brienne! But, the bigger question is, which side will he fight for now that the threat to all humanity has been vanquished? He may have semi-redeemed himself in recent seasons by making better life choices. But let’s not forget the bun in first love, Cersei’s, oven that Jaime put there (Euron is an epic fool to believe for even one second that it might be his, given her history when it comes to child paternity!)
And what the heck is Brienne gonna do in Winterfell?! Twiddle her thumbs? I think not. I think she’ll not be far behind Jaime on the King’s Road to the final battle for the kingdom.
Seems like a lot of regular variety drama, right? And then GoT does what it does so well. After kind of injecting some breathing room into the lungs of GoT viewers, they GUT-PUNCHED us with the horrific death of Dany’s second dragon, Rhaegal, at the hands of that disgusting pirate, king wannabe, Euron Greyjoy! Ahh!!! No!!!
I’m beginning to question if more than Jon knows nothing if you didn’t learn anything from the Night King tossing a spear into the air and taking down Viserion, Dany, Mother of Dragons. I mean, Westerosi forces did already try this tactic before, they just way underestimated their weapon, The Scorpion’s, capability. But, like all good villians, Qyburn returned to the drawing board and went all out in anticipation of Round Two with the dragon threat.
It is war, after all. Shew, okay, regroup. Nope, nope, another gut punch! Missandei has been captured. Poor Grey Worm. And now a parlay with the Westerosi, some back and forth about who deserves to rule, and then there it is — last words, “Dracarys”, and Missandei is no more. Brutal, GoT!!! But, I still love you.
Dany, girl, you better get your A-game on and don’t screw this up. Cuz, Missandei just flat out told you not to let her death be for nothing. And — psst, Dragon Queen, listen up — Arya of House Stark. A Girl With ‘The’ Name. Hero of The Long Night. Feller of All White Walkers. Maker of Kill Lists. Master Assassin. is on her way to help you out. You so lucky!
If you want to get in on the fun of the Marinade Designs Game of Thrones Ice and Embers Shawlette KAL, it’s not too late! Cast on and get knitting!
What hopes (or fears) do you all have about the remaining episodes? I hope Drogon makes it through the upcoming fray and roasts Qyburn alive for designing the weapon that killed Rhaegal. I hope The Hound puts The Mountain out of his misery. I hope Arya ticks a few names off her Kill List. I hope Jon and Dany come to some kind of peaceful resolution about their potential ruler statuses. I fear Cersei will prevail and some of our more notable heroes will end up in her and Qyburn’s creepy weird human experiment dungeon. In any event, I can’t wait to find out!