Have Miyuki seed beads size 6 in 2 colours, will need to decide which to use. The crystal with silver lining seem appropriate as they look like little ice drops, while the sea foam, in greeny blue are just plain pretty & glisten with lovely shades of blue & green.

Have decided to go with the silver lined crystal beads, & now I have added 2 rows of beads I am pleased with my decision, as this keeps the blue tone highlighted in this wool, which could easily look green if I were to add the greeny blue beads, then it would not go with the colours I like to wear. Using 0.75 crochet hook to add these, 0.50 was just a tad too wee to keep this ultra fine wool on the hook when pulling through the bead.

I started with 3 x 25 gm balls of the DB Angel - by the end I had 2 grams left. The last 2 rows ate up a lot of yarn, that is row 17 & 18 which is the picot cast off, so make sure you have plenty of yarn left for the end of the shawl. I put in 6 lifelines throughout this project, removing them once I had 2 newer ones in position, purl rows 16, 32, 40, 48, 56, then on chart B row 8. I did not need to use these, but it is reassuring to know they are there.

The kid silk was actually very enjoyable to knit with, this in total contrast to my first foray into using this type of wool, when I vowed never again to use & nearly had a nervous breakdown over trying to keep track of stitches & read my knitting to fix errors. That was 3 years ago, I am an older & wiser knitter now & quite addicted to this feather light cobweb stuff with its fuzzy halo. Do be warned it intertwines itself to itself & the stitches can be almost meshed together, I don’t think it would be feasible to tink back, the strands would be bald of their fluff once you had torn it apart!

Ethereal is how I would describe this kid silk once it is knitted up.

The colour is so very difficult to capture in photos, it looks different every time, dependant on what background colour is shining through, if the sun is out or not, how electric light bounces off the wool - it can look blue, silver or green.

I kept waiting to move up to the final 5 mm needles, but when I got to the cast off, I again searched through the pattern as no sign of these being utilised, of course I had missed the rows I should have changed up to 5 mm, & saw the needle change quite clearly now it was too late. I have now highlighted that part of the pattern & all the other needle changes so I don’t make the same mistake again. I do wonder where this brain rot came from, as I had carefully read through all the instructions before starting. I am cross with myself for not highlighting needle changes before embarking on the shawl. So my shawl does not open out so large towards the points as I was still using 4.5 mm needles.

I used my Addi long lace interchangeable needles for this project & 100 cm cable. The metal needles did not present a problem with the kid silk slipping off.

26 July 2014 - picot cast off has been underway since yesterday, 3 hours so far! Not much distance to show for this……… Many hours later today it is cast off, that picot edging is lovely, but boy does it drag on! Tomorrow I will block & post finished photos, at present photo 3 shows the shower scrub!!! (unblocked snow angel). Pic 9 after blocking.

This has been an enjoyable knit, really not difficult, though it looks as if it were hugely complicated. As always Boo knits instructions are clear, & when I did encounter new things, I just read what she says & followed on - the kyok was a new one for me. The shawl seems to naturally cling onto the shoulders & embrace you in a big hug, staying in place easily by its clever, shaped design. I would love to knit this again, & have red kid silk wool to do this, as I wear red & black a great deal. If I do make this shawl again, I think I would make the largest size, although the large was a perfectly satisfactory size after blocking, red would probably be worn for evening things where the bigger the better.