It was supposed to be a practice piece, before buying the ‘good’ yarn. I was supposed to decide if I liked it on the needles, then rip out the ‘inferior’ yarn and make the ‘real thing’. Problem was, I liked the feel of working the Lustersheen too much to consider ripping it out! I needed to find more yarn to continue it. Luckily, Lustersheen - at least in white - really needs no dye lot unity. My skeins came from many different sources, some were even brand-new! Some were actual center-pull skeins; some were an older put-up on cardboard cores the way crochet threads are sold. Under all lighting conditions, there is no variation visible to the human eye.

Lustersheen is dense. It is a heavy, opulent-feeling shawl. I wore it to my sister’s wedding in November 2003.

I’ve since repeated the basic (lace-free) shawl twice - with finer yarn and needles, and both were snapped up by extended family members in Syria.

What they say about Faroese-style shawls staying on the shoulders is TRUE! It does, even when done in relatively slippery Lustersheen.

No, it never has been (and never will be) blocked. That’s the joy of the Lustersheen! Its own weight opens up the pattern. Besides, I enlarged it to fit me as is. it falls to my wrists as I wanted it to. Were I to block it, it’d be long enough for an orangutan’s arms!!

Eventually, I’d like to make it again … in a ‘good’ yarn.

Photo credit to Ginette, my knitting fairy.