shawl #2 2016

I’m itching to start this!

I love the original Renaissance colours, but I thought I’d use up some odds and ends from some of my other stranded knits, mainly picking out shades from the blue and brown palette. I’ve bought an extra couple of mixed packs from Wee County Yarns (great service), again in blues/browns/cream, to bump up my yardage. I have no idea what sequence I’ll use them in, but I’ll just cast on and go for it, in my usual random way. Incidentally, my (only just) 4-yr-old grandson used the word ‘randomly’ totally in context recently: I was quite taken aback. Perhaps I’ll call the shawl this?!

10.3: Chart R… ye gods!!!

11.3: Next day. I finally got through Chart R - the most tricky section of the shawl which has been otherwise a fairly simple knit. Chart R has a lot of colour changes to keep track of and also a long pattern sequence; once you’ve got it set up, it’s not so difficult, but you really need to give it your full concentration! Chart R is actually the only part of the shawl where I’ve really thought about the colours and how they will work; so a section which isn’t quite so ‘random’!

Yarn shade choice: as I’ve said above, it’s been pretty ‘on the hop’, really looking at the shawl as a whole as I’ve worked on it and thinking, ‘right, which colour next to keep a balance’. I’ve been working within the confines of using up odds and ends from other projects (mostly blues and browns) and I’ve probably spent about £15 on extra yarn (miniballs). Looking back, it probably would have been wiser to buy a larger ball of some of the colours - but then that would mean I was being ‘organised’, rather than ‘random’… ;)

Some of the colours used: Midnight, Storm, Blueprint, Shiver, Cashew, Frost, Azure, Jade, Braes, Putty, Grouse, Cream, Petrel, Wheater, Nutmeg, Elephant, Atlantic Spray, Denim.

14.3: all finished! This is just so beeeooootiful… what an amazing pattern. I’ve maybe used a few too many dark blue shades at the start, but overall, I’m really happy with the result. Love the knitted on edging, which is actually a very simple thing and doesn’t take too long to do.

You end up with a piece of densely knitted fabric - not a particularly airy, drapey sort of shawl, but then that’s the result of a combination of fine needles, Shetland wool and fair isle patterning. As the back of the piece is quite visible, I’ve caught in the floats every couple of sts; I also spliced most of the ends, so there weren’t too many to weave in at the end (though ‘not too many’ has taken on a new meaning after this knit…).

Yardage: the shawl weighs approx 170gm which would work out as about 850yds or 17 miniballs-worth!