Am catching up on some test knit feedback posts from projects over the past few months, and this one is another shawl (or as Zach says, "Another shawl?"). What can I say - shawlettes are one-skein projects (usually), a chance to play with pretty patterns without worrying too much about gauge, and I'm big on layering. My office is veeeeery air conditioned, so I tend to have a cardigan at work even in the summer. Shawls, scarves, and shawlettes are easy layering pieces that I can throw on in the office, but take off as I walk to my car in 90+ degrees in September.
Side note: ever gone shopping for a space heater in May in Texas? You get some very crazy looks!
So, here you go, another test knit shawl:
The Yarn
The majority of the shawl is in Wollmeise "Pure" 100% Merino Superwash in Tiefer See. I received this bit of loveliness in a Ravelry swap a couple years ago, and have been looking for a pattern that would do it justice. Because look at it!! Those gorgeous blues and greens!! Sooooo pretty! And it was a love to work with. It's a pretty tight twist, so even with the dark colors, the stitch definition is very clear (you can see it in the pictures further below). No splitting, and no color bleeding when I blocked it. I can see why this yarn has such hard core fans!
For the trim, I used Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Winter Night. It's a little splitty, but it's very soft and squishy. No other complaints, really.
The Pattern
The pattern being tested was the Magret Shawl by Anna Nilsson, available for Ravelry download. It's a crescent shawl worked from the bottom up, shaped with short rows. The cable and eyelet pattern up the center panel is the same as on the lower border.
It's been a while since I started a shawl bottom-up, instead of nape-down. Made the border seem extra long, but once I got through it and into the main body, it went very quickly. It's not a mindless pattern, but you can see (sorta) in the left picture below, that the cable pattern is very repetitive, a nice honeycomb. And being a one-stitch cable (love those!!), it made it very easy to follow.
The short row shaping was really fun, actually. It's not the usual wrap-and-turn method. The pattern called for German Short Rows. If, like me, you haven't encountered these before, there are several good videos on YouTube, and a tutorial on Ravelry too. For my knitting style, I found these a lot easier than the wrap-and-turn rows. And they are much less visible on the finished fabric, as an added bonus. Always fun to learn a new technique that you'll actually use again!
Notes, Alterations, Etc:
With my looser gauge, I ran out
of the Wollmeise just before the end of the shawl. Tragedy! But never
fear, I went stash diving and found a coordinating yarn to finish it
out (the Knit Picks Stroll). It's a slightly heavier weight (Sport) but still pretty close to the same gauge. And anyway, I only needed a little
bit more to finish the trip and do the i-cord edging. Being a different
color as well as a different gauge, it looks like I meant to use the different yarn as the
trim. ("It's not a mistake - it's a design element!"). It looks very nice, really, if I do say so myself.
The looser gauge also resulted in a shawl instead of a shawlette. Yes, yes, basic math. I still feel like I needed to point it out :) It's still a very comfortable size, though, so no complaints from me.
As a final note, be sure you read through all directions, because frogging through short rows is a major pain in the tookus!! There wasn't a problem in the pattern. I had just rushed on ahead and misread the directions. Ended up having to frog my
first 2 repeats of Chart B because I missed the part that you
are also decreasing when you turn the short row. Was kicking myself hard on that
one. So learn from my mistakes - read through all directions first!
Semi-Required Kitty Picture:
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