From my own handspun, using my hand-dyed merino tops. I think this yarn is actually a little heavy for the project - I will have to see what it looks like when I block it.

I’ve slightly adapted the pattern by making it larger (added on an extra repeat of the cart making it longer/wider) and adding beads into the pattern. The tricky part about adding beads was knowing where they’ll look good before you’ve tried out the pattern. That and putting all my beads on the yarn at the beginning of the ball and then having to move them all the time. That was a pain. But also a learning experience.

Finished! This knitted up really quickly. The only criticism I have of the pattern was that the repeats vary a little (some units end in k2tog, slip 1, k 1, psso, and some in k2tog, k1, slip 1, k 1, psso); I found that a little trying at first. I can’t figure out why the designer would have done this - it doesn’t make an obvious difference to the final look of the shawlette. Apart from that, this was, I think, my first lace project knitted from a chart and I found it quite easy to follow.

Once finished, I washed it in warm water with woolwash, gave it a quick spin in my top-loading washing machine and it was ready to block. NOTE: Do NOT use a front-loader to spin wool items, ever. Unless you’re trying to felt them.

For once I blocked a project properly, using large rustproof display pins (like normal pins only about 5x as big) and a sheet of polystyrene insulation. Lucky to have that lying around the house! The bonus of the polystyrene was that the knitting clung to it slightly, making it really easy to position. The shawlette went from being a wrinkled sea creature to an elegant lace accessory in a few short hours.

My yarn was quite lightweight, so the finished shawlette only weighs 120g (about 4oz?) and feels really comfy to wear. It has a lovely drape and is cozy to wear without being heavy.