Things have been quiet here because I’ve been busily knitting away. The sad fact is that I know too many people right now who are battling cancer. I’ve been trying to knit a bit of comfort.

Here’s one project, now complete, for a friend. The pattern is Charlotte’s Web and it’s knit in Koigu KPPPM. The recipient asked for something red and I had four skeins of this colourway. This shawl is usually knit in multiple colours, but I quite like how it came out in just one:

Bonus! You get to see the left toe of my kitchen clogs. 🙂 It’s a crappy day for pictures – we’re having wet snow and rain, and the skies are overcast – but I need to get this on its way. I took this quickly so the shawl wouldn’t get wet, thus my left toe. The colour isn’t quite right despite the dull skies – the shawl is more red than pink.

You can see that the last skein was a bit darker. Even though all four skeins were the same colourway and dye lot, I sorted them from light to dark as there was obviously some variation. This way, the changes are subtle. I only did a graduated change for the transition from the third skein to the fourth.

Here’s a detail shot:

I love how airy this lace pattern is, plus it’s pretty easy to memorize. The pictures really don’t do justice to this yarn, which has so many flicks and gradations, as well as rich saturated colour. I hope Koigu has their tent sale this year, as I’m due to stock up on more pretty yarn.

I had thought the shawl might end up too small with just the four skeins, but it’s 70″ across the long edge and 35″ deep. That’s plenty big enough!

Here’s the first shawl I knit of this pattern, also in Koigu KPPPM:

This one was knit in five different colourways, as the pattern specifies. I shaded them from light to dark. This photo was taken in the snow on a dull day.

Here’s a detail of the lace on that first version – it shows up better against the snow:

It seems more open on the purple one. Maybe I used a larger needle, or maybe I blocked it harder. Hmm.

Now for some links. I have the book, Wrapped in Colour, which includes the pattern for Charlotte’s Web. (Those are Ravelry links. This pattern has also appeared in some other publications.) As designed, it takes five skeins of Koigu KPPPM and has a fringe. I’m not much for fringes, which means I can knit it bigger.

Here’s my project page for the red one on Ravelry, here’s my blog post about the purple one, and here’s the Koigu website in case you need some of this yarn.

Now I need to work out these chemo caps. I’m deeply unhappy with the pattern and yarn combinations I’ve tried so far, but am hoping to sort it out soon. I’ll show you when I do.