Very pleased with the end result! It’s a fun and relaxing shawl to knit. I’ve had this yarn in my stash for quite a while, waiting for the right project, and I finally found it.

I enlarged it by one increase section, and used all but 5.7 grams of the yarn. Then I decided that I didn’t really like how the garter stitch edge looked along the top of the shawl, so I did a crochet slip-stitch across the edge (on the wrong side) to stabilize it. The chain doesn’t show on the right side, but it does make the edge look a little straighter and firmer. Finally finished with 3.7 grams of yarn left. The three detail shots show (top to bottom) the original edge, wrong side after adding the slip stitch, and the right side after adding the slip stitch.

When I first started the shawl, I didn’t realize how small it was designed to be, since I’d tried on the one Susan made as a shop sample, and it was much larger than the pattern size (hers was 54x20”, and the pattern says 46x17”). I knew she’d made it according to the pattern, so I never even bothered to look at what the pattern said about the finished size - just cast on and started.

When I finished (using 3 skeins of yarn), I realized that it was going to be much smaller than I had expected. Without blocking, it measured 39” across. That was when I finally looked at the pattern dimensions. Oops. I might have been able to block it severely enough to get close to what it said in the pattern, but certainly not to the size I wanted. So I ripped out the lace border, and used the 4th ball of yarn to do one more garter stitch section.

When I took out the border to enlarge the shawl, I weighed the amount of yarn I used for the border and divided it by the number of lace repeats, so that I could figure out how many grams of yarn I needed per repeat. That way, I was able to calculate how much yarn I needed to leave for the border when I made the shawl bigger. I decided that with the extra repeats, I’d need a full skein of yarn for the border, so I set that aside and figured I’d try to get one more full garter stitch section done.

I finished the additional garter stitch section with just a few grams of yarn left, so I crossed my fingers that my calculations for the border were good, and it worked out perfectly.

For the last increase, I did increase the full 47 stitches, following the natural progression of the increase sections (replace the *k2 in the last increase with *k3), but since that wasn’t the right number for the lace border (it needed a multiple of 11), I did 3 evenly spaced k2togs in my last row. I suppose I could have just done 3 fewer increases, but I don’t really think it matters - I knew it would block out OK either way.

In the first attempt, using 3 balls of yarn, I started the 3rd ball of yarn for the last 2 rows of the body, and ended up finishing it with 4 grams of yarn left over.

In the second attempt, using 4 balls of yarn, I used almost all of the 3rd ball to finish the extra repeat, leaving the 4th ball for the edging, and had 5 grams of yarn left over.

Unblocked, the shawl measured 48 x 22”. After a Eucalan soak, it relaxed and grew enough so that with a very light blocking (just to get it to a nice, even shape), it measured 57 x 23 on the blocking board. After it dried and I took it off the board, the final measurement was 55 x 22”.

I think the size as indicated in the pattern would be great for wearing as a large scarf/shoulder shawlette scrunched around your neck, and I may make another one in that size out of a slightly thinner yarn than the Manos. But when I started it, it was with the intention of it being the size of Susan’s, as I thought it was a perfect size for a shawl.

Normally I would have knit this yarn with a larger needle size, and it seemed kind of dense and heavy while I was knitting it. But I think it worked out really well after it was wet-blocked. I’m very happy with the drape and texture. However, I’m planning to mostly wear it as a shawl, not a large scarf. If I wanted to wear it scrunched around my neck, I might use a size larger needles for this particular yarn.