I made 2 swatches: one with #6 needles with the stripes to see how the colors would work together, and one full gauge swatch in Curse with #5 needles since the #6 swatch seemed a bit loose.

pre-blocking gauge for #6 stripe swatch: 24 sts x 44 rows = 4 inches; it feels a little floppy, but I could still probably use it for the shawl… Blocked gauge: 21 sts x 40 rows = 4 inches very light airy fabric

The stripes turned out great though! I took a suggestion I saw somewhere and arranged the colors from light to dark, so the blue is the main color, the purple is the first contrast color and the green is the last contrast color. The blue looks almost electric against the darker colors! The blend turned out great though, so I will definately stick with this arrangement.

pre-blocked gauge for #5 solid swatch: 25 sts x 48 rows = 4 inches; the fabric feels nice and solid, but perhaps too solid…by comparison I think I prefer the #6 swatch. Blocked gauge: 21 sts x 42 rows, great fabric density for a shawl.

I’m going to use the Yarn Harlot’s mod and do a YO between 2 edge sts and drop it on the way back to allow more give to the edge. My shawls always seems to have pretty stiff edges that make blocking a pain and have me worrying I’m going to break the yarn. I’ll have to remember this for future shawls too. The Yarn Harlot is so freaking smart!

After finishing the knitting and letting it sit in my WIPs bin for a while I discovered that one of the cats managed to snag it through the plastic bag. It took a while for me to work up the nerve to try to fix it, but it turned out to be really easy.

All I needed to do was cut the snagged strand in the middle, tie the two ends of the strand together in a double knot, then weave in the remaining ends on the back. I couldn’t even find the spot that had snagged after I was done!

I was a bit worried about the edge being too tight, but it blocked out just fine! When I make it again I could stand to go a little looser on the edge, but I don’t have to sweat it too much.