This is a lovely, easy to knit pattern with a real rhythm to it, easy to watch TV and knit! Lotta visual bang for not much in the way of knitting technique bucks. Plus the gently curved edges on the sides of the shawl are lovely.

This pattern has frequent YO’s preceding a purl stitch, so I am using this technique for yarnovers, since the first initial resulting holes appeared to be of different sizes. It is a bit tricky, the backwards YO one does preceding a P stitch does yank the orientation of the stitches on the following row and one must have one’s wits about one.

Melody had the good fortune to attend a mushroom identification workshop with David Arora. She brought me back a “dyer’s mushroom” - “Phaeolus schweinitzii” - famed for bright yellow and brown dyes. I dried it and then dyed this commercial yarn with an iron mordant addiiton to the final bath. The color is a khaki with real yellow overtones. Plus, I am so cheap I re-used some crock pot plastic bag for an in initial attempt at hand painting in the oven. None of the mushroom dye took, but I certainly did pick up some leftover reds from an earlier acid dying project. Not much, but enough that I notice them.

Having arrived at the knitted on border, I am less than pleased with the “hump” created with the beginning of the cast on row, there is no way I can block that out. (I am still wondering just how I am gonna block out the “hump” formed at the beginning of the shawl). I frogged back and created a better cast on (with fewer holes - a loop or “thumb cast-on)) and created a less full treatment of the knitted on edging in the first 13 stitches so that they might block more in line. GOT IT!! - omitted the YO on next to last row edges, leaving 12 sts for first group. Used loop or thumb cast on and knit the first two stitches of body together on first row (will be a 22 row sequence consuming 12 body stitches). Worked quite well, and the transition line to the edging is now smooth.

In goofing around with the edging, I realized that I am gonna come up short on yarn, even though I am sure I measured out at least 20-30 extra yards before I dyed. So - mathed it out and I having all the inside groups of 25 body stitches be treated as groups of 22 stitches (3 of which are comprised of a K2tog) evenly spaced w/i the pattern. I should just squeak in, yarn wise. I think it will be ok, many of the projects seem to have a real “ruffly” edge to them.

Finished months ago, and am so disappointed with the final project that I cannot bring myself to block it, will one day.