Shawlissima!
This shawl is something that I am very proud of. It’s probably the most complicated thing I’ve knitted so far (though in reality the pattern was fairly simple, I had to learn a number of new techniques), and it was a present for my mum, so it had to be nice!
The yarn was a bamboo/silk mix (Sublime Yarns) and was lovely – a little bit splitty, but so soft and smooth and with a lovely sheen.
I cast on on the 6th of December – which took several tries as I’d never done the circular cast on before. And to be honest there were a few more froggings and castings-on before I finally properly got to grips with the left leaning increase. The pattern was easy to remember, but still fun to knit. Quite quick, as well – I took two and a bit weeks, though I don’t knit every day and if I do it’s usually only for an hour or so.
I used the picot bind-off instead of the sewn picot hem – I thought the hem might be too obvious with this yarn (though it would probably have taken half the time!).
This is the first time I’ve properly blocked something (that wasn’t a square or rectangle) – which gave me a good excuse to buy blocking mats and wires! Pinned it out dry and then spritzed it, which worked fine on the swatch.
It was unpinned, folded and wrapped on the morning of Christmas Eve, and it was the last thing put in the car before we drove the four hours home for Christmas. As a result I don’t have full measurements or a photo of it off the blocking mats. But it turned out beautifully, and it was totally worth the late nights!
It’s not big – it’s just a shoulder shawl, really, but it was intended to be something for the Italian evenings when Mum’s on holiday in the spring. I just hope she likes/wears it… (I’ll never know, probably, either way, so no point fretting about it, really!)
Sarah's Slow Stitches 