I really needed a splash of color here at the end of winter and this yarn delivered. This is the first time I've worked with yarn from Striken Smitten and it was lovely. The base is Shimmer Glimmer, a 50/50 blend of superwash merino and silk. The spring of the merino allowed me to block quite a bit and still get a cushy shawl, while the silk made it shiny and super soft. I was really lucky to get this yarn in a rav trade.
The pattern is Wandering the Moor, a shawl "inspired by the shawls worn by Mary and Diana Rivers from the 2006 Jane Eyre Miniseries." I'm not one to miss a literary allusion, but even if you're not an English major, this shawl has lots of pros... it is reasonably priced, well thought out, and the directions for resizing are clear. I was able to use my new scale and the shawl progress calculator to get a shawl that has 2 repeats more than the smallest size. This blocked to 47.5" by 21," which is a nice wearable size. I may have had enough yarn to squeeze out a 3rd repeat, but I couldn't bear the thought of ripping out half the shawl if I was wrong.
The only thing I did to make the pattern easier to use was printing out a second copy of the chart and make a master chart that I could follow all the way across (you'll see what I mean if you use the pattern), but people who are more visual than I can probably see the pattern without that kind of crutch.
This is also my first shawl blocked with wires. Wow was that a relief. The top edge was so. much. easier. I did fiddle around to get the edge notched the way I wanted, I think this shawl looks better with some of the yarn overs pulled a bit further out.
A very pleasant knit :)
PS - Yarn Paradise is having a sale on 100% cashmere, the best price I've ever seen (with shipping, mine cost $35 for 300g). So you might check it out if you have mittens to line...
No comments:
Post a Comment