03.02.2016

Since a long time I was planing to knit one of Melanie’s design. When She showed pictures of her Rheinlust-WIP I knew it’s going to be sooner than later. It’s gorgeous, a real “must have shawl”, one of those timeless garments you need to have in your wardrobe.

I am dreaming about the summer already and I think this shawl would look gorgeous at chilly summer evening on my shoulders - with a dress or a t-shirt under, so I decided to knit it with a mix of wool and cotton. This yarn has wonderful stitch definition perfect for twisted lace pattern used in Rheinlust, it’s not as springy as man could assume, but has a nice weight which I hope will drape wonderfully after blocking.

Two things which have helped me to avoid making mistakes in this gorgeous lace pattern:

• in last row of chart A (16th) and after completing each repetition of chart B (22nd row) I placed marker between the last stitch and the second before last stitch. When I started the main body of the shawl I had 8 markers (this could help you also to control the number of repetitions of chart B in the first section).
• After few rows of following charts I have noticed one thing which has helped me to memorise the pattern sooner. You should remember that the yarn over worked in previous row must be either knit tbl on each RS row, or knit on each WS row. This may be important to remember especialy when you have one yarn over and you have no idea what to do with it (second row of chart B, or 13th row of chart B). When you have more stitches built up on yarn overs made in previous rows it’s easy to get it without looking into the chart.

I am struggling with the increase stitch in garter section which I constantly forget about, I have no idea why but I guess I am so focused on lace pattern that when I see garter I just stop thinking ;)

This pattern may not be the best movie project, but after few repetitions of the pattern it’s get much more easier, but you will have to stay focused almost to the end. Anyway, the result is worth the effort - I have a small piece of this wonderful shawl and I love it already!

6.02.2016
Done! It’s blocking now..

Few important things:

• I had less yarn than suggested in the pattern, so I skipped the double increase stitch in garter section and knit single increase stitch instead. The triangle didn’t change its shape, but this small modification helped me to avoid running out of yarn (I had less than 1m of yarn left!)
• The yarn I worked with it’s not stretchy at all. I tried the bind off like Melanie suggests, but it didn’t work for me and my yarn. Instead, I worked the short rows and then binded off along the edge using the stretchy bind off. I improvised with short rows in lace pattern part (I had mostly 4, 3 or 2 stitches between wraps). I was aiming in finishing all short rows in lace section in total 44 rows (2 pattern repeats). The garter section was much easier, I made the short rows every 4 stitches (3 stitches between following wraps), but I think It would be even nicer if I had knit short rows every 5 stitches (with 4 stitches between wraps), because the garter tip of the triangle is a bit longer.. it’s a win-win for me, since I love to wear garments I can tangle in :)

I am surprised how quickly I managed to knit this shawl! It’s gorgeous! I hope I will be able to show you the pictures of it soon!

Thank you Melanie, you are “The Shawl Whisperer”!!! :)