04-12-2021

For future reference:

A = 150y used 3x
B = 175y used 3x
C = 150y used 3x
D = 150y used 3x
E = 175y used 3x
F = 150y used 2x
G = 100y used 2x
H = 100y used 2x
I = 100y used 2x
J - 100y used 2x

Sub in extra colours if you don’t have enough of one colour to do all of the stripes indicated in the pattern. I’ll likely have to use 2 diff colours for F because I do not have a full 150y of the Berroco Vintage. (Update: see below. I didn’t.)

Note that some of these touch side-by-side and others touch above/below:

A touches B, C, H, I, J
B touches A, C, D, E, I, J
C touches A, B, E
D touches B, E, F
E touches A, B, C, D, F, G
F touches D, E, G, H
G touches C, E, F, I
H touches A, F, I
I touches A, H, J
J touches A, B, I

A - J&S FC62 (sage) - fingering
B - Sunday Morning (light mauve) - light fingering
C - Lamana Como (dark grey/black) - sport/DK
D - Corriedale Cream (white) - worsted
E - Urso Licorne (yellow/beige variegated) - fingering
F1 - Lamana Como (dark grey/black) - sport/DK
F2 - Berroco Vintage (beige) - worsted - see below, opted not to use this because I knew I wouldn’t need it if I didn’t require the Lamana Como on stripe 11
G - Tuku (dark mauve) - sport
H - Shibui Staccato (white) - fingering
I - J&S Shaela (light grey)
J - Berroco Quechua (matte black) - fingering/sport

04-12-2021

I determined, based on the fact that I have 6 colours that are very similar that these colours shouldn’t touch:

C / F2 and I (blacks)
B and G (mauves)
D and H (whites)

Given scrap volume available and the reuse of similar colours, the use of these colours as listed above is required…

Edits while working:

• Stripe 4: For first stripe of J&S Shaela (grey) I used 9g/34y of yarn and have 17-18g remaining for the second stripe. It took all but 2g of the yarn to do the second stripe (stripe 9).
• On stripe 8: I’ve opted to use F1 Como here too (not the Berocco Vintage) because it’s unlikely I’ll knit this to stripe 11 (it’s huge) and I prefer interspersing the black on both sides of the shawl, in an even fashion. So no F2 applied though, if I do get to stripe 11, I’ll have to sub in another yarn for B, with adequate quantity…
• I had to use the Sunday Morning on the last 2 rows of stripe 8 / colour G (because I ran out of the Tuku).
• I’ve opted to invert I and H in stripe 9 because I don’t think that I’ll have enough of I if I make it the first of the 2 colours (and therefore the longer of the 2 stripes).
• Stripe 9: I also had to use a woolly wool yarn end - I believe it was a Pure Laine remnant of 4g (showing as all used up in my stash as I don’t really keep yarns in stash once they’re under 10g) - to finish the final 2 rows / garter stripe H in stripe 9.

13-12-2021

Thoughts on the Project:

• Intarsia doesn’t get easier than this so it’s a terrific first intarsia project, IMO. You only use 2 colours per row and they are done in blocks (there’s literally 1 yarn switch per row).
• It’s very enjoyable - in the way all colour work is - observing the colours unfold in one’s chosen palette. But this is also so pleasant in that it’s simple garter stitch knitting with occasional increases. Before you know it, a shawl unfolds.
• I’m so grateful for a pattern that uses up yarn remnants of volume: 100-200 yards in multiple partially-used balls is something everyone has. It’s def the amount I tend to be left with, if I have anything left at all (because I really do try to go through all the yarn). Moreover, most people have very knowable palettes in their stash. We tend to return to the same colours again and again (if utilized to different effect in projects). So it was not hard to find enough yardage in colours that go well together.
• Despite what I’ve said above, I did have to use yarns of different weights to find 10 colours in my stash that worked cohesively, and for which I had adequate yardage. I’ve used everything from light fingering to true worsted-weight, hand-spun and mill-spun, worsted spun and woolen spun. And I can’t say it’s bothering me. Plus, once blocked, the differences are not observable.
• The instructions are very clear.
• I know that the Purl Soho Half Triangle Wrap is all the rage, but the outcome always seems too large or too small to wear optimally. Number 10 has all of the fun of the half wrap and the finished shape is very wearable. Plus - you use up 1000ish yards of stash with this pattern.
• Having said that, this thing is large. I stopped after stripe 10 because I don’t want it to be too heavy - or too massive. At 12 stripes, I prob wouldn’t have had enough yarn (see below) and it would have been too large.
• Having tried it on blocked, next time I have enough scraps to make this again, I’ll stop after stripe 9. Even if knitted on a US4 (as recommended), I think it would be more than big enough after stripe 9 or 10 - though note that I’m a short/smallish person with neck arthritis. I do not wear heavy or super-large shawls.
• I went into my final stripe (stripe 10) with 30g of the Sunday Morning and 29g of the Berroco Quechua. I ended, after icord bind off with 8g of the Sunday Morning and 4g of the Quechua. (Note that, even though the Sunday Morning used less yardage, it was the longer stripe. That’s cuz that yarn is VERY light-weight and lighter weight than the sport-weight Quechua.) I would recommend that, as of stripe 10, you need about 25g of the longer-stripe colourway at a minimum. If I were to have gone all the way to 12 stripes, I’m pretty sure I’d have needed 30-35g of the yarn for the longer stripe in the final pair. Yarn is not something you want to run out of 3/4 of the way through a stripe - particularly the last few - cuz you’ll lose hours of time. And obvs, as a stash-buster, you prob don’t want to buy another ball of the yarn in question.
• Note that I made my shawl with diff weights of yarn and I went up a needle size to US5, to accommodate this. Perhaps the needle size makes all the diff in terms of how much yarn is required at the stripes after #9, but can’t confirm since using a US5 is the only way I’ve made it to date. I tend to like fingering garter stitch on a US5 - and I’m not a tight knitter. So I do think a US4 is likely to create a fabric that is pretty dense.
• I did my icord bind off on the RS using knit stitches, and knitting through the back loop of the k2tog stitch. I also made it a 2st-icord because 3st-icord on garter looks too prominent/thick, IMO. The end result is quite lovely and I have no regrets about not using the suggested purl-side bind off.
• If you want the shawl to hang as instructed - with the crescent formation happening at the bind off edge (icord) and a flat first stripe (rather than one that balloons out convexly and precludes the crescent shape), you have to block this shawl with care. Given how a garter tab cast on of this sort likes to puff, only wires and pins will diminish its initially wonky shape. IMO - this thing looks pretty crappy if not blocked well. If wires and pins aren’t your thing, I recommend giving it a miss.
• Something I also did, to ensure that knitting a fine fingering next to a worsted weight yarn (in the same stripe) wouldn’t look off is that I blocked the fingering stripe (with extra pins) wider so that it would block at the same width as the thicker yarn. This hack worked well - though optimally I wouldn’t have put those 2 yarn weights side-by-side. I had to in this instance given colours available.
• I’ll totally make this again when I have yarn remnants of the appropriate yardage.