I’ve compiled some useful tips for those knitting the Holbrook, especially for first-time shawl/lace knitters:

• Cast on garter tab provisionally
• L-F-R-B is a four-letter chant I’ve used to remember which bar to pick up for the M1L and M1R stitches on either side of the lace body panel. left-front-right-back.

Tips for switching colors for the border:
- I am using the Triangular Shawl Progress Calculator to determine whether or not I have enough yarn for the border, based on the amount of yarn used for the body. This isn’t technically a triangular shawl, but the calculator is close enough.

On the forums, the designer says

At the pattern size, the body uses about 56% of the total yardage. 22 repeats uses about 58%; 24 repeats uses about 61%; and 26 repeats uses 63%. These are estimates based on careful calculations but not written in stone nor tested in real life! So I might recommend padding those numbers a bit, making sure to leave at least 5% more for the border than these estimates, just to be on the safe side.

I used a long tail cast on for the border yarn. When you knit the last stitch of the border onto the body, knit both stitches through the back loop. Turn your work, hold the yarn to the back, and slip the first stitch purl wise.

To bind off, I went up only one needle size instead of two because my bind-on was tighter than it would have been had I used the backwards loop cast-on (as seen above, I did a long-tail cast on because I used different yarn than the body). I found this video to be a helpful explanation of doing a Russian bind-off through the back loop.

I had 11 grams of yarn remaining (just like I’d estimated I would) which means that I used a total of 64 grams for the border. This works out to the border taking up 46% of the total weight of the shawl. The estimates provided by the designer were extremely close - she estimated that the border would take up 44% of the total shawl weight. Adding an extra 5% for padding was smart, but again, the estimates provided by the designer are very close to accurate.

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Notes:
August 30
It’s done and blocked - I just need to take photos! It’s about 64 inches long and 25 inches deep. Blocking was difficult - I used wires for the bottom and the top, and blocking the bottom points was a bit of a challenge. Measuring the border helped to keep it even (it measures 6 inches wide at all points).

August 24
Halfway through with the border and I’ve used 32g of the Freia yarn. It’s knitting up so beautifully. I anticipate using all but about the last 10 grams or so, which is pretty great. The border knits up very quickly once you get the hang of the pattern.

One thing to watch: I had a few instances where I was missing a stitch on the first row of a repeat. Turns out I was SSKing the last two stitches after the YO in the middle portion of the row on row 11 - it’s the only right-side row where those stitches are knit separately. So keep your eagle eyes on during that row!

August 18
Done with the body; I used 76 grams of yarn total - so I’ll have plenty of the Freia to complete the border. Now I’m wondering if I should have done some extra repeats of the body, but I didn’t want to fuss with playing yarn chicken.

I finished the first chart and one repeat of the second chart on the border today. Still getting the hang of the pattern.

August 17
I had a weird error that took me weeks to figure out, but I figured it out! I don’t really know what the actual error was, but there was a missing stitch, a gigantic yarn-over, and some crossed paths that needed to be entirely re-done in one of the stockinette sections. I had to tink back to the tenth stitch and un-knit everything between that and the marker to fix the problem. But it’s fixed!!! I got some great help from sixfoursgirl over at Warm n’ Fuzzy, which helped me see that there was an extra loop on a yarn-over, and from there I was able to undo the error and fix the thing.

Whew! And I’ve finished 20 repeats of chart 2 and now I am ready to get to the border!

August 7
70g used at repeat 19. One repeat left, a small garter ridge, and then it’s on to the border.

August 5
Repeat 18. 60 g used total.

62g after one row of repeat 18. According to the shawl calculator, I have more than enough yarn to finish all 20 repeats in under 90 grams, which will ensure that I have enough border yarn.

I have knit 12,760 stitches so far!

64g after two row of repeat 18.

August 3
Repeat 17. 50 g used total.

August 2
Used 6g (26 yards) for repeat 16. Had a huge yarn knot and had to re-skein and then re-wind the ball. It took a really long time. I will never pull lace or sock weight from the center of the ball again!

July 29
218 yards (32g) at 13 repeats.

July 28
I’ve used 105 yards (24g)of the black yarn after 11 repeats of body chart 2.

July 27
Knit eight repeats of chart 2 today. The lace pattern is easy to memorize and the fact that there are only 6 rows for the chart makes it a quick knit.

July 26
Cast on today. Used a provisional cast-on for the garter tab. I prefer this method because it’s less likely for the tab to get twisted.

Knit all of chart 1.

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I got this gorgeous yarn as a gift to myself for finishing my dissertation and earning my doctorate. It is 30% silk and 70% merino wool. It’s a dream to knit.

I started out with a different pattern but frogged it after I decided that alternating garter stripes weren’t doing the yarn justice. The hand-dyed Freia gradient would be much better in one solid section. So I decided to make another shawl designed by Dee O’Keefe, because her patterns are always pretty and straightforward. The body of the shawl will be solid black and the knitted-on border will be the fuschia Freia gradient.