There Are Advantages To Showing Up Late For A Party

When 6ooo or so folks have knit and commented on a pattern you can bet any bugs will be reported and many- many hints will have been shared.

The Color Affection shawl ingeniously combines the simplicity of garter stitch, with the interest of stripes and just the right amount of spice in the form of short rows. A major draw seems to the fun of choosing your three colors.

Scanning pages of finished CA shawls and reading scores of notes, the following seem to be the most often cited-and most helpful hints.

For the shawl to drape properly the edges need some special attention.

*Begin each row with a Knit -Yarn Over- Knit.

Then on the next row drop the Yarn Over.

*I stuck with the increases as describes in the pattern. Lots of folks did a Knit in the Front and Back to increase, and lots of folks report they don’t like the look of the resulting edge.

*I used Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off demonstrated here.  (prepare yourself –it will take a while)

Also helpful….. this technique to carry the colors up the side. (when I watched this again it seems all you really need to do is slip the first stitch to your right needle, bring the strands of yarn around from the back and between the two needles, slip the stitch back to the left needle, and start knitting with the color called for. )

Despite the pattern’s simplicity I struggled a little with the fine yarn on what seemed gigantic US6 needle. It was like I wish I had a bamboo circular for the first few stitches – then the slickest Addi for the rest of the row….I sure can be picky….

My shawl measured 22 inches deep and 100 inches long- a little longer than the schematic on the pattern. Blocking was a little bit of a challenge in that I don’t have blocking wires-so I just made due with pins. I pinned directly into my bedroom carpet- The shawl is so light that it dried quickly.

The Teal blue yarn is Berraco Ultra Alpaca Fine. The one mod I made was to use two strands for the initial semi circle that sits near your neck. I think this gives the shawl a little more stability- something for the rest of the shawl to hang from.

The other two skeins are Malabrigo sock yarn.I wasn’t real pleased with the Malabrigo – it seemed a little “splitty” to me and my gray skein was riddled with knots. I know people rave about Malabrigo – the colors are beautiful, ( I used lettuce and Alcaucil) and it’s soft – but has anyone else experienced  poor quality in the yarn itself? Just curious.

All in all I must have had fun because I see another CA is in my future-I have already singled out two skeins from my stash- one grey and one pink, and shopped for a third so I can start one in lace weight. I’m thinking about size and wondering about bumping it up in depth – lots of enjoyable garter stitch to look forward to. Wait till you see the third color I picked out.