Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Hey! It’s a Shawl!

Yep. I have finally knit my first shawl. It’s not lace. It’s not small. But it is a shawl and it is finished!

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Pardon the amputee look. I didn’t realize my standard “hands behind back” stance would make me look completely armless.

Meet Shawl That Jazz!

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This garter-stitch shawl is knit with no-wrap short rows and you don’t have to pick up stitches to create the (very slightly) ruffled border. I really enjoyed this shawl and will absolutely knit it again!

There was one Moment of Stoopid along the way. I could not for the life of me figure out the technique to get from the end of short rowing to having the border ready to roll. If you wind up stuck at this point of the pattern, look at the third page of the pattern. It’ll make a lot more sense after reading the tutorial and looking at the pretty pictures. (Yes, I am willing to admit to Teh Stoopid if it saves someone else an hour of head-scratching)

I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off to finish the shawl. I was being very careful to weigh my remaining yarn after every row of the border, since I wanted to use as much of the yarn as I possibly could. I was very consistently using 5.7 grams of yarn for each row, so I quit knitting and started my bind-off with 13.5 grams of yarn remaining. I had just under two yards of yarn left over. Yeah, I was sweating it as I got towards the end!

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As you can see, it’s a pretty good-sized shawl. I wore it around the store a lot on Saturday (I guessed wrong on the wardrobe vs. weather question). It took a little getting used to, but I know I’m going to get a lot of wear out of this shawl. I’m thinking it will be great in the summer when I’m in a heavily air-conditioned environment but dressed for the warm weather, or at the Lake when we eat on the patio at the club. It’s right on the water, so it can get a bit chilly at times. Since it’s knit with merino wool, it’s very comfortable and cosy.

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My Saturday experience convinced me that although I do have a beautiful Aura Dez shawl pin, a swirl will work better with this shawl. Fortunately, we had a beautiful swirl in the store just waiting for me to take it home!

All in all, this project is a complete “win.” I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for a perfect yarn for Shawl That Jazz II while I’m in Maryland in a few weeks. Muwahahaha!!!

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Shawl That Jazz

Pattern: Shawl That Jazz by Samantha Roshak
Size: It’s a shawl
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted
Color: Sockgate
Amount: 2 skeins/1,120 yards
Needles: US 10.5/6.5mm KA Switch needles
Started: 5 March 2010
Finished: 19 March 2010
Mods: None

8 comments:

Zonda said...

Oooh Maryland, why would you go there ;) Have fun searching for STJ 2 yarn!

Ok, so I iz stoopid, I've read page 2 many times, no sense to me, but glad to know I can use JSSBO for it!

turtlegirl76 said...

Oooh so pretty! You made me lol at the amputee comment. hehehehehe

Love the shawl pin. It compliments the shawl well and does look like it holds the end down well.

Trillian42 said...

That's really lovely! I've seen that pattern, and I've thought about it, but could never decide for sure if I wanted to make one. Yours may have pushed me over to the "Definitely yes" side.

Donna Lee said...

What a useful shawl. I love my lace ones and I loved making them but they're so fragile. A good sturdy useful shawl is more practical. I love the color you used. You'll live in it all summer.

Heather said...

Gorgeous. I am tempted and you know how I like to knit garter... heh.
Very nice.

Sairy said...

Gorgeous :) Love that shawl pin too!

Sarah said...

This turned out beautifully! Looks like it'll be nice and cozy when you need it.

Jen said...

Yay shawl! It looks nice and cozy, and I love the pin!