This is such a great pattern! I enjoyed knitting it - easy enough to do on train trips etc, but interesting and fun with the slipped stitches and stripes. Plus I’ve never made a shawl before, let alone one like this (is it normal to start from the center of the straight edge? I don’t know, but found it fascinating). I’m now quite au fait with M1L and M1R! .. and it’s light and soft and lovely to wear.

Blocking: Blocking really helped with my tension issues - the section of garter stitch border I had problems with is still a bit tight but much, much better. The edge still curls a little bit but much less.

Finished but yet to block:
I love this pattern, but I clearly have some tension issues (!). What’s funny is that I started this project when I was still working in a stressful job = tight, stressed stitches in the first section. Then when I left and went on holiday, loose stitches! This may end badly - I fear the issues with the garter stitch border (it’s really tight on the carried-yarn part of the stripes) will not be resolved in blocking. The border edge is curling quite a lot too… You can see these in the 5th photo. Will block tomorrow, then we’ll see.

Bind off: EZ’s sewn bind off.

Meanwhile… I went overseas, took it with me but didn’t knit much…

Section two (the stripes):
Hmph. My garter stitch border on the side where I carried the yarn across the stripes is really tight, and it’s wrinkling. If you’re knitting this, make sure you carry the yarn loosely up the side. Other than that, I’m really enjoying this.

Section one (the solid part):
I found it helped to write out the following table on some scrap paper to have beside me, to help with all the “knit halfway to marker”…

NB: each set of 4 rows = total of 12 increases

The first column of the table shows the number of stitches you will have at the end of each 4-row repeat. The second column shows the number of stitches to knit to get you halfway to the marker on the next Row 1 of the repeat:

25 | 5
37 | 8
49 | 11
61 | 14
73 | 17
85 | 20
97 | 23
109 | 26
121 | 29
133 | 32 (end of section 1 for size S)
145 | 35
157 | 38
169 | (end of section 1 for M and L sizes)

e.g. after the third 4-row repeat you’ll have 49 stitches on the needles, so on the next Row 1 of the repeat, when it says “knit halfway to marker”, you need to knit 11 stitches. That was easier for me than counting and dividing and re-checking all the time!

Starting off: aarrghh I found this really hard, it took me a few goes to get that set-up part done. But I did it.

Note to self: Dark for inner section, light grey for stripes & outer