FO: Ishbel

 

What is it about February that makes me want to knit shawls? This seems to be a trend for me every year and I don't really know why that is. This project was more of a case of a yarn I really wanted to use and I had ear marked this pattern for it. 2 weeks later, I had a finished shawl, lol, which feels incredibly fast for me.

This is the notorious Ishbel pattern by Ysolda Teague. I've had the pattern for years in the Whimsical Little Knits book but I had never bit the bullet. I've made 2 other Ysolda patterns, but never a shawl, so something about that just felt right when I was hunting a use for this yarn. The yarn was given to me when I friend gave me 2 huge buckets of good yarn, but sadly this one had no button band so I have no idea what it is. A burn test showed that this is sock yarn - it feels like a merino nylon blend to me - but it just had the most beautiful tonal pink color. 

I wanted a nice lacy pattern that would shine in this mostly solid colored yarn and I think this project was just the ticket. I did run into trouble simply because I was mindlessly knitting the top stockinette section and didn't pay enough attention to the yarn overs at the edges. I missed 3 yarn overs, which made my stitch count off by the time I needed to set up for the lace. I had to redo the first 6 lace set up rows seriously like 4 times. This had to sit in time out for a few days I was so frustrated, but I finally realized what I needed to do for it to line up and then it was smooth sailing ... until I reached the last row. I was knitting merrily along and I thought I would have enough yarn, but I ran out about 6 inches from the end and still needed to bind off. I was able to tink back about a foot and use a smaller needle for that last row, which enabled me to just barely squeak out that full row, then I dug in my stash for a complimentary yarn I thought would work for this. I settled on Knit Picks Stroll in Jack Rabbit Heather, which I think actually makes me like the shawl even more. It's a nice frame for the edge and is still neutral enough to go with whatever I want to wear this with. 

So that's my Ishbel Shawl! I had a lot of fun making this, despite the small set backs, and I still really love this yarn. It's too warm to wear this now, but I look forward to having it next time it cools off :)

FO: Haruni Shawl

I had quite the saga going on with my main knitting project at the beginning of this year and I hit a point that I just had to set it aside and do something different. Next thing I knew I saw this shawl pattern and had bought a random yarn because I liked it and spur of the moment decided to make this up as a palette cleanser.

This is the Haruni shawl pattern by Emily Ross, a free pattern on Ravelry. I came across it by browsing the Ravelry board of TheLongHairedFlapper on YouTube, lol. Random. I like to watch her channel for vintage knitting and whatnot and found that she had made this, then I saw this pattern was free and it just sealed the deal.

I had not made a shawl since 2020 and I remembered not caring for them. They tend to start off very fun but then as it grows and the rows take longer and longer, it starts to feel like a drudge. So I expected that to happen with this shawl as well, and I was shocked at how quick this worked up and how much I enjoyed the lace pattern. Can you see the lace pattern? Not really, lol.  

The yarn is Yarn Bee Authentic Hand-Dyed from Hobby Lobby that I picked up on a whim. I was feeling down, they had a sale, and I was draw to this color combo. When I found the Haruni pattern I just decided to knit it up even though I knew this yarn would not show off the lace design very well. I really didn't care - I just wanted to use both these things. Does that make sense to anyone else? Sometimes you just want to make something without thinking of every possible issue.

When I finished the main lace section and reached the border, I still had 55 grams left. Pretty much every shawl I've ever made left me with so much yardage that I was worried this was going to happen again. I contemplated doing a few more repeats of the main lace design, but in the end I decided I didn't want to do the math associated with that. I wound up using all but 8 grams of this yarn for this project, so it was really good that I didn't alter anything because I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to finish it otherwise.

The border lace and scallop edge were fun and I love how the edge looks. Again - YOU can't really see it well, but I can see it when I wear it. If I wear this with a black shirt, it would stand out well. Considering I made this in April, I have yet to actually wear it anywhere because Florida is extremely hot in case you didn't know.

So that's my shawl :) I very much enjoyed making this up and it definitely served as a great palette cleanser for my disasterous sweater issues and I was able to pick that project up after this one and get it finished. I look forward to it being cool enough to wear this in the winter.

Summary:

Yarn: 1 skein of Yarn Be Authentic Hand-Dyed in Stonework colorway - $11.97

Pattern: Haruni - Free

Time: 3 weeks