I need to input all of the yarn that I am actually using on this shawl. However, most of it…probably 75% of it was purchased from the FABULOUS Chelsea Yarns.

The reason I rated the pattern with one star and “difficult” is because I feel the pattern is written without giving the knitter a “full picture”. It’s almost as if the designer conveyed only part of what was in her head leaving the knitter to figure the rest out. Once you do your research (which should NEVER be the case for a paid or published pattern in my opinion) and seek out others’ notes on this pattern then you can put 1 and 1 and 1 and 1 together and it will flow smoothly.

Don’t misunderstand me, if you are fortunate to not have any issues at all with this pattern (this may only be a problem for some of us for some reason) then I can see why you may absolutely love it, and if you are one of the few who stumble with this pattern -- DON’T give up!! It is totally worth the trouble, it IS a gorgeous pattern by Maie Landra and WORTH seeing through to the end!

I made my shawl much bigger than the pattern states which means I used substantially more yarn than called for and I altered the border. I used a total of 12 different colorways of Koigu KPPPM.

04/25/13: FINALLY finished this shawl!!! PHEW! I used quite a bit of yarn for this project, I will have to update exactly what was used. 100% Koigu KPPPM. It’s MASSIVE…probably 2.5x the size of the designer’s original. I need to take photographs but I have to figure out the best way to do it. I wanted to add beading to it but couldn’t figure out what exactly would look best. I added the tassels today and am calling this project “finished” for now…maybe one day I’ll add some beads but that’s a big maybe.

• 04/28/13: Photos posted. This shawl is UNBLOCKED. I do not have the space at this time to block it. It’s not really necessary, in my opinion, because the weight of the border and tassels helps pull the lace pattern out a bit. However, I will block it eventually.

PATTERN HINTS:
Please, save yourself all sorts of headache, frustration, and possible heartache. This pattern requires HELP from others who have successfully finished it, not because they are brilliant knitters (which I am NOT) but because they most likely finished it successfully from gaining knowledge from others who either ARE brilliant knitters or were able to crack through what’s missing in the pattern and posted various tidbits of information on blogs.

Hint 1: Download this PDF chart that can be found at this link. It’s been put together by Uli Ross and will be a good guide to show you exactly how many stitches you should have row by row and guides you in your color sequences.

Hint 2: You will always have two stitches at the beginning and end of every row that are always knit on the right side and purled on the wrong (all wrong side rows are purled). Following the first two stitches and your marker will be your first section where you are building up to EIGHT stitches by doing a yarn over once every knit row until you have EIGHT stitches. The section right before the middle stitch works the same, however you will have built up to NINE knit stitches.

Hint 3: Stitch markers are a MUST for this project to help keep your sanity. I marked off each pattern repeat…so every 8 stitches, except for the first two and last two and middle stitch which all had stitch markers as a reminder.

If you have any questions, please feel free to message me and I will help you however I can. :) You can read more about my experience (and my hints) here.

Pre-blocked measurements (approximate):
51” down the spine
120” across

Blocked measurements (approximate):
72” down the spine
144” across