Granny's shawl

Huzzah! Granny's shawl is off the needles. Started on September 17th, finished October 22nd. Unblocked, it measures 22" x 54". I finished late last night and then wove in ends today. And promptly wore it to the theater to see Sondheim's "A Little Night Music." It's going to be a little tough to part with this lovely object. We took some photos tonight that I'll post in the AM.

Update 12-May-2004: ... here is the photo, finally!

Needing something quick with no thinking involved for the rest of the day, I picked up an unfinished Better Mousetrap sock from last year and worked on adding 1 more ridge to each side to make sure it will wrap around his feet. The Plymouth Encore worsted weight yarn feels enourmous and rough in my hands after 5 weeks of luscious Kid Silk Haze. That mohair/silk is so airy and soft. I'm even having trouble getting used the feel Heaven, which is mohair without the silk.

Notes from the past - Sat Oct 20

I was swatching Heaven over the weekend (again, picture tomorrow) and I am pretty unhappy with the color choice I made. It was a last minute purchase - saw a sample shawl, needed to knit it, grabbed a color I thought was mostly purples, and didn't discover until this weekend that it is really a lot more pink than I thought. Both pale pink and very bright fuscia pink. Plus turquoise highlights.

Update 12-May-2004: Here's a photo of the swatch of nasty pink Heaven

I know there will turn out to be someone in the universe who wants this color, but it isn't me. And I'm pretty sure it isn't Mom, who was going to get the completed shawl. And the pisser of it - this is a $60 oops. And it's already been through the ball winder, so I can't really take it back.

Since I'm stuck with it... I did a swatch to test the colors using the shawl pattern from the Purl book from Sally Melville. I like the stitch - 4 rows garter with small needles, then 2 rows stockinette with larger needles- easy to make and interesting to look at. I started using 10's & 6's, like she suggestes, but switched to 8's and 4's and finally to 7's and 3's. The 3's really felt right for the yarn, so that's probably what I'll stick with for the next swatch. I'm not totally keen on the way it looks with this variegated yarn - I think the runs of each color are too long for stockinette, even when it's just 2 rows at a time. I'm going to give it one more shot in a garter stitch - the free pattern inside the ball band - and if that doesn't make me like the color, I'll have to find someone who likes these colors somehow. Maybe a shop would let me post a "take this yarn off my hands" note.