Update June 2012: This shawl won an Honorable Mention in the San Diego Fair :)

Excellent pattern and very fun to knit! Finished shawl is so beautiful.

First try was on size 2 needles. I finished it, blocked it, and ripped it all out. Too big. Didn’t bother to check gauge ‘cause shawls usually don’t matter… but with this style gauge does matter! It was too long to tie comfortably. Started over on size 0 needles and am very very close to gauge this time :) I am not sad at all that I had to start over. I love this pattern and I was wishing I could knit another one right away! This time around, I’ve got the charts pretty much memorized so it’s going really fast.

You can tell which photos are first-try and second-try (besides the fact that they are arranged chronologically). On the first try, I ran a lifeline through the last purl row of every repeat. On the second try, I was familiar enough with the pattern to know that I could find my place if I had to rip back, so I just tied a thread loop to mark the repeats.

Pro-tip: to keep the lovely shape when blocking, use florist’s wire if you don’t have proper blocking wires!