28-12-2021

MC - Lore (ight grey)
CC1 - De Rerum (green brown)
CC2 - Woolfolk (pink)
CC3 - Como (black)
CC4 - Woolfolk (green)
CC5 - Lang (cream)

This pattern calls for a US 5 but I found the Lore stiff at that gauge. I used a size 6 for the entire shawl (no smaller size needle at the beginning and end of shawl). I would have even preferred a US 7 if not for the fact that most of my yarns were sport or fingering weight (so I needed to ensure that I didn’t knit those at too loose a gauge). This is my only divergence from the pattern as knitted.

Final Thoughts:

• This pattern is very enjoyable to knit - well-written, not complicated but a bit more interesting than the average stockinette or garter scarf. The end result is chic and minimal, but with pops of colour. I really love the design.
• It’s a terrific stash-buster - for reasonably small yardage remainders - that also creates a very chic, gender-neutral finished object.
• It would appear that the colour blocks, when made using fingering-weight, use approx 9g (4.5g x 2). Worsted uses about 16g (8g x 2) and DK uses about 13g (6.5g x 2). This info was obtained at my gauge on a US6 needle. I didn’t swatch because I don’t swatch for scarves or shawls unless there’s a reason to (and I like the fabric that was created here, so there was no need to, in this instance).
• I really like the edging stitches. I’ve probably done this sort of edging before but I can’t remember when. It creates a very clean finish.
• I used much less yarn than the pattern calls for in the main colour - 380 yards vs 490 yards. That still meant that I had to go into a second ball but I have 58 grams of that ball left over. Good to know that I could use a DK/worsted yarn as the MC and I likely wouldn’t need the full amount of MC called for. Useful intel for the next time I make this.
• I did miss about 8 rows of the pattern because I made the garter CO and BO edges 7R deep plus CO or BO (effectively 8 garter bumps at each end) and I believe it calls for 9, before CO and BO. So I could have used a bit more of the MC yarn but the scarf is plenty long as far as I’m concerned.
• This accessory MUST be well-blocked or it will look horrible. But as bad as it looks, prior to blocking, it looks fab thereafter. I blocked with pins, not wires. Given that I was working with yarns of diff weights, I can see that wires might have been useful, but I’m fine with this outcome…
• While I’m very fond of the Fibre Co. Lore, it didn’t really soften when I blocked it (and my contrast yarns were all very soft, worsted-spun yarns, so I didn’t want to add conditioner to the blocking water). I’d use this yarn again for a scarf or shawl but likely not for a sweater.

02-01-2022

Pre-blocked Dimensions: 60” long / 12” wide (but it’s hard to determine this exactly because the garter/stockinette combo creates a bubbly fabric until blocked…

Post-blocked: Dimensions: 65” long / 11.5” wide. Note that if I’d knitted this on the US 5, it would have been smaller (prob the same dimensions as I got if I had knitted the extra 8 rows that I forgot about at the beginning and end of the scarf. I don’t know how, even using only DK yarn (instructed weight), one could block this to 72” using a US5. And I’m not a tight knitter… When I make this again, if I have enough yarn, I’ll do the 8 rows I forgot to knit and maybe add another 8 on each side of the colourwork aka before the first block and after the last block.