About the pattern
This is my third test knit for this designer, and it’s been a great experience working with her. She writes very well-written patterns and I have several beautiful FO’s I regularly wear which are all her designs.

The actual knitting in this pattern is quite easy, and the hardest part is in the counting, which is made easier with reclosable stitch markers. I also found that a double-ended stitch marker was useful to keep track of which row was an increase row versus an even row, but such a marker isn’t required to complete the project. I made a video that shows the sort of marker I used, if you want to try to make or find a similar one.

Knitters who want to improve at reading their knitting will find that this project helps improve that skill set. The knitting itself is simple enough that I was able to complete most of the project in about two weeks, so it’d be a great gift knit worked under a time constraint.

Yarn choice
For this test knit project, with permission of the designer, I’m using yarn I dyed myself. It is a fingering weight single-ply MCS and is in a “heavy skein” put-up of 115g. It has a WPI of 14 and has 383 yards per 100g (though these heavy skeins contain 440 yards per 115 grams since they weigh more than the typical skein size). It is a yarn that would substitute well for Madelinetosh TML but is just slightly thicker (more the thickness of older original TML), and is in a more luxurious fiber base (Merino/Cashmere/Silk).

Forgive me for my excitement about my yarn, but I’m really happy with my dye results! I dyed my skeins consistently enough to not require alternating skeins in my project, nor did I need to blend my two MC skeins at all (you cannot see where my first MC skein ended and my second began)! Yay!

Gauge
My gauge was such that I was between row and stitch gauge counts so someone comparing their possible results to mine may be a “Your Mileage May Vary” situation. Since this is a shawl, gauge isn’t super relevant unless you’re tight on yardage requirements. If you are concerned about that, one could knit this with a smaller needle size than I did, resulting in a slightly more dense fabric than I had, and you’ll likely use less yarn than I did. See my next comments on needle size, because mine is probably different than the reader’s will be anyway…

Needle Selection
I tend to knit very tightly compared to most people, so by default I usually go up a needle size or two to match gauge compared to others. I swatched a wide variety of needle sizes just to be sure that would be appropriate for this case, and the end decision was to knit this with my customary two-sizes-up needle choice, and I think it made a great fabric for my shawl. However, I do think that I could have used one needle size smaller and I likely would have not consumed as much yarn, and I would have still had a good fabric for my shawl. My US7 results tend to be pretty similar to most people’s US5 results, so my recommendation is to swatch with the needle size suggested or maybe a US4 if you’re concerned about yarn consumption (unless you also tend to knit very tightly/loosely or you’re changing something else too).

Yardage
Total yarn consumption for me was as follows:
MC (black) - 139g used
CC1 (pink) - 21g used
CC2 (orange) - 18g used
CC3 (yellow-green) - 11g used
CC4 (green) - 11g used
CC5 (blue) - 16g used
CC6 (purple) - 22g used

I left very long tails because I dislike weaving in loose ends with short tails, and perhaps my consumption would have been slightly lower had I left shorter tails and/or used a knit-the-tails-in-as-I-go method. Also, my gauge may not precisely match someone else’s (see comments in gauge section above).

For those thinking about whether or not you’ll have enough yarn, below are some figures that may be helpful:

Approximately 1.5 to 2 grams of yarn was used for each thin CC stripe in the first rainbow section. (The MC stripes between each CC stripe consumed less yarn, for a combined total of 4g. This works out to less per stripe because you can carry the MC yarn up the edge of the work and do not have to cut it and leave long tails each time.)

In each of the thickest stripes:
CC1 used 17g
CC2 used 15g
CC3 used 8g
CC4 used 6g
CC5 used 13g
CC6 used 19g
Each MC section dividing the CC sections used 6 to 9 grams of yarn, for a total consumption of 37g of MC used.

Each stripe of the final rainbow section used between 2 and 3g of yarn. (The MC stripes between each CC stripe consumed less yarn, for a combined total of 8g. This works out to less per stripe because you can carry the MC yarn up the edge of the work and do not have to cut it and leave long tails each time.)

Again, your mileage may vary because I know for certain my stitch gauge will not necessarily match the next knitter’s gauge! If you’re in doubt, knit from full-size skeins instead of mini’s (that’s what I did) and you’ll have plenty of leftovers for another fun project! Or, size down on your needle size, which will reduce your yardage consumption too.