…pity about the pattern :(
It looked so pretty on the stall at Knit Nation, but really it’s just not big enough. It just about wraps round my shoulders with a pin to hold it at the front, but without the pin it just falls off. Irritatingly, I only used 72g of 110g, so I probably could have done the next size up, but even if I could be bothered ripping it back, the pink garter stitch stripes have been cut, and would have to be spliced.
It was extremely alarming when I cast off and found that it was this big – for reference, the boards are each 24” square.
I blocked it as hard as I could, but even so it’s barely 46” across the top. And the construction is strange – the bottom patterned section is done straight, with a decrease in the top band, then in the top stocking stitch section you do a double decrease at each end of the right side rows, then some very rapid decreasing and a garter stitch section knitted on for the last bit. This does sort of work, but I can’t help thinking that short rows would have been better – it has a tendency to stick out at the back. Or even pi-type decreases, with decreases spaced evenly across the row every few rows, a la Citron.
It looks pretty worn like this, but to be honest, I’ll probably wear it tied round my neck like a scarf.
Or else back to front.
It is beautifully soft, and I love the colours (although the blue did come off in alarming quantities on my hands as I knit – I was a bit scared of washing it in case the pink went blue, but I gave it a very quick dip in lukewarm water and all was well).
The details – the pattern is Lenora, by Paulina Popiolek. I bought it in a booklet from Skein Queen at Knit Nation, but now I find that it’s available on its own, which is also irritating, as I only wanted that pattern. And the booklet’s been printed with some very strange ink, it absolutely stinks. The yarn is Opulent, from Skein Queen, in the Regency Blue and Heathered Pink colourways, and is lovely.
Another niggle, but probably just a personal one, is that the charts were written so that the same symbol is always the same stitch – I much prefer them when they’re written so you can see the pattern in the chart, with symbols meaning the opposite on right side and wrong side rows. Plus there’s a mistake on line 29, with an extra knit stitch, which would have been easy to spot if it had been written the other way. Hey ho, it passed a weekend, and it’ll be warm and snuggly in the winter. Now of course I want to buy lots more cashmere and make a cosy cardigan. One day…
My goodness, that was quick!! It’s gorgeous. It was only last week that I was admiring the Knit Nation one on your blog! I can see how you were attracted to it, it’s beautiful; but I see what you mean about the size. It is a tad on the small side! But it works beautifully in the scarf and back-to-front photos. The colours would be lovely with a denim jacket.
I have to say I prefer the same symbol for a stitch on a chart. Different symbols for right and wrong side rows confuses my tiny brain!!
I just went at it over the weekend! The cashmere was so gorgeous to work with it wasn’t a hardship :)
I’ll probably wear it as a scarf with my denim jacket, it’ll be lovely and cosy.
I like to be able to ‘see’ the results on a chart, so an area of white spaces representing knit on the right side and purl on the wrong side looks like stocking stitch to me, especially if it’s surrounded by lines to represent purl on the right side and knit of the wrong side – I can see the shape I’m making before I start. If the symbols are the same for each side it looks more like shadow knitting in the chart and I can’t see it so easily. But it is interesting how different people’s brains work with regard to charts!
I think it looks lovely worn as a scarf, either way round, but not so keen on it as a shawlette – it’s reminiscent of a fichu, isn’t it? I was interested by your comment about the symbols on the chart – I’m not a fan of charts at any time, but was really confused by one recently that had one symbol meaning different things depending on which direction you were working in. Words, even abbreviated like K1, P1 are so much more solid.
It is a bit more cape-like than I’d anticipated – I think if it were bigger it’d be easier to wear, but the shape still makes it sit round your shoulders. One to chalk up to experience, methinks.
It’s interesting how different people read charts – I much prefer the ones that are different for different sides, probably because I read them very visually. And I hate written instructions for lace – the sea of abbreviations just makes my head explode! I have to chart them before I can start. To me the advantage of charts is being able to see how things line up, so you can see that the double decreases all sit on top of each other, for example, or the k2togs should make a nice slope, which I can’t see from written instructions.
Your shawlette turned out beautiful. I like the tie-around-the-neck look…and it’ll sure be cozy come winter time, huh? You sure whipped that out fast!
I would definitely wear it as a scarf, it will be really cosy this autumn. I’d have been annoyed too to find out that the pattern was available separately. It does look deliciously soft though!