9/29/17 Blocked and photographed. The actual color is somewhere in between all the different pics--it’s very hard to capture. The second photo down (on a rock) is maybe the closest, but the green tones aren’t quite right.

Finished measurements are about 90” x 42”.

9/16/17 I finally picked this up again today. I was about 3 rows from binding off, which I did. I thought I was being conservative with the yarn chicken, but I ended up with just 1 gm left. I only had enough yarn for about 11 rows of garter stitch. I used a k2tog tbl bind off. It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be, so I’m hoping that blocking it opens it up a good deal. I kinda wish I had used US11s instead of 10s.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of this pattern. It’s a loose recipe--just guidelines, really. It took a lot of trial and error, and scouring other peoples’ project notes, to figure out how to get the textured rows to line up how I wanted them (staggered), get the increases to look right, etc. etc. For a simple shawl, it was kind of a lot of work. The real kicker, for me, is the blurb at the bottom of the pattern (that says at the very start that it’s a recipe and you should use your creativity) stating you can’t sell your textured shawl without the designer’s permission. I won’t get all the way up on my soapbox, so let’s just say that doesn’t sit well with me.

The yarn is super soft. It’s a little splitty, so not the best to work with, but it’s a loosely spun single so I expected that. The colorway is interesting. I don’t love it, but I think it works reasonably well with the pattern.

7/9/17 3rd skein started

6/1/17 I started this a couple of days ago. The first time, I got the increases wrong so I pulled it out and started again. The second time, I got halfway through the first textured section before I decided the gauge was too snug on the US9s. I knit a few rows on 11s, but that was too loose. I pulled it out again. Today, I started it up a third time. I think 10.5s might be the best choice, but I didn’t have any with me (and I don’t actually own any with a long enough cable), so 10s it is. So far, so good.

My multiple starts have been helpful, actually. I didn’t like having one extra stitch to knit somewhere on each side of the textured rows (I was doing border/increase/pattern/k1/increase/k1(center)/increase/k1/pattern/increase/border). I found the center spine of the shawl to be really smoothed out, defeating the purpose of the textured bit. So, I decided to make my stitch count a multiple of 4 + 1. Here’s what I did:

Garter tab:
CO 2 sts
K 10 rows
Turn, pick up 1 st at edge of each garter ridge (5). 7 sts.
Turn, pick up 2 sts on CO edge. 9 sts.

Setup row:
K2, pm, m1l, k2, m1r, pm, k1, pm, m1l, k2, m1r, pm, k2.

All WS rows (except final garter border):
K2, sm, p to last marker, sm, k2

St st RS rows:
K2, sm, m1l, k to marker, m1r, sm, k1, sm, m1l, k to marker, m1r, sm, k2

Textured RS rows:
K2, sm, m1l, (sl1 pw, k1, yo, psso2) to marker, m1r, sm, k1, sm, m1l, (sl1 pw, k1, yo, psso2) to marker, m1r, sm, k2

Usually I’m all for symmetry, so I thought about reversing the textured st pattern on the left half…and then immediately thought f*** it. The st as is has such an easy quick rhythm to it. Why mess with a good thing?

Needles: US10 Addi Long Lace Clicks