Work Shawl of Many Colors



Yes, yes, yes, my work shawl is finally completed! 

This shawl, which is huge by the way, was quite an undertaking. The stitch pattern is easy to memorize, but there are endless endless repeats! It was an exercise in patience for me, especially all the sewing in of ends and then the sewing on of the pockets. 

Because this shawl is more or less reversible the ends needed to be woven in invisibly. To do this I split each end into two and wove them in opposite directions, some on the "right side" and some on the "wrong side." This doubled the number of ends that needed to be woven in. *sigh*

But the important thing is that I got through it, and even learned a certain zen appreciation for it. And now I have a beautiful beautiful shawl! With pockets!











I also want to say a little something about the pattern, which was a Ravelry download from designer Martha Marques. The stitch pattern is also her own design, something she calls "Fishbone Lace." The alternating rows of knit and purl make it completely reversible. 

Martha very kindly helped me out with a few questions I had when working on the pattern and has since updated the pattern to include the "missing" information (i.e. the stuff that confused me). Indeed the interactions I had with her (including, of course, the wonderful things she had to say about my version of the shawl) made this project even more special.

<3 my knitting community. 

Be sure to check out her other designs on Ravelry (marthamarques) or on her website:   http://www.marthamarques.com/



These photos were taken at 8am this morning at The Farm on Adderley (yup, they do an excellent early breakfast! And they were very nice about my mini photo shoot.) Thanks guys!

And thanks to my Dad for being an excellent (and willing...at 8am) photographer. :D

2 comments:

Sckwee Says:

It's really a lovely shawl! I'm not sure I would ever have the patience for that.

I like the pockets ^_-

Peter Walsh Says:

Nice Post Emily. I linked to my FB wall.