Let's just focus on all the good stuff first and save the tragic bits for the end, okay? So, here's my Waiting for Rain shawl, knit in the most beautiful single merino yarn from Swift Yarns- the most beautiful yarn. I knitted this with the Soft Sweater KAL in Katrina's Yarn Thirty Podcast group.
I bought the digital pattern for the KAL, but when I saw the images from the book, I had to purchase it from Sylvia Mcfadden too. Shawl Joy is just that, a joy. Sylvia has captured her work in the most dynamic way. That's no small feat when shawl sample photos are so ubiquitous that we sometimes get desensitized to their detail and beauty. Or maybe I'm just talking about myself. Anyway, there's no chance of that happening with these patterns. Every inch of these stitch patterns, wether in full sun or shadow, in stasis or tossed in the air, is emotive. I want all of them on my needles.
The innovation doesn't stop with the photography, though. She has come up with the most clever way of charting her lace short rows. I am in love with this book, guys.
I enjoyed every second of knitting on this shawl. I love how the lace bits look almost like rips in the fabric of the shawl. Tears that produced beautiful, threadbare lace patterns.
It's possible you've seen said oopsie. If so, just cross you eyes slightly and smile like nothing's amiss. Thanks for that.
Details: I used size US 5 needles and Swift Yarns' Simple base in the Wednesday colorway. It was the perfect yarn/ pattern combo. I prefer singles for shawl and the depth of color in this one made it my pet project for a few weeks.
There was just enough lace to keep things interesting, but I could still read while knitting the garter stitch.
I had no trouble following the charts or the basic instructions. I appreciate the simple layout in the book, too.
But, and this is the woeful part of the story, as I was taking my photos I found an error. I wondered why I'd put it on correctly for a photo, then look down and find it was on backward. Slowly it dawned on me that no matter which side I wore facing out, it would seem backward. That was because I knit the bottom lace portion facing the wrong direction. So the top three lace sections faced the RS, but the longest one at the border faced the WS. My husband says I'm too busy to focus. Sometimes I wanna cry like Lucille Ball.
It was too surprising to even upset me at the time. I've done some doofy things, but this would be among the doofiest. Oh well. I'm entering it into the Soft Sweater KAL because I did finish it and will wear it, but I'm going to have to rip back and do it right one of these days. It stinks because I was all ready to start another one from that collection.