Things have been quiet here on the blog. I’ve been writing a lot and solving a lot of publishing things – I’m still knitting and crafting but have been waiting to have a finished project to show you.

Here’s one.

This project jumped onto my needles after our trip to the Koigu Tent Sale in August. You might remember my acquisitions:

Those three reds were screaming to become a shawl, along with the grey/red mix and one of the lighter greys off to the right. (Not the lightest one.) Those two light greys look like a progression in hue, but they’re actually two dye lots of the same colourway. The right one is a bit more blue.

I showed you the shawl in progress, but here it is again:

I used a longer colour transition than the one recommended in the pattern: this is the one that The Unique Sheep suggests with their graduated colourways. It takes 24 rows when you’re working back and forth, 12 if knitting in the round. When changing from A to B and knitting back and forth:

With B, work 2 R.
With A, work 6 R.
With B, work 4 R.
With A, work 4 R.
With B, work 6 R.
With A, work 2 R.

In the round, the row counts would be 1, 3, 2, 2, 3, 1.

It’s interesting how much evident the colour changes are in a photograph than in real life.

Here it is, fresh off the needles:

This used pretty much all of those five skeins of Koigu KPPPM – the bind-off I-cord is knit in the leftover red from my Lunenberg Cardigan. My Ravelry project page is here.

Here it is, stretched out to block. I was amazed that it blocked to 80″ – wingtip to wingtip – by 45″ deep.

Here it is finished up (well, the ends need to be stitched in.)

And a detail shot:

I did think it was too stretched after I’d blocked it, so I tossed it into the dryer with some towels that were finished up. (Just for about 10 minutes.) That took it down 4″ in the length and about 8″ across the top, and also improved (to me) the look and feel of the stitches.

I want to make another shawl, maybe not with the same stitch pattern, from those skeins to the right of the reds. I’ll start with the almost-black and work down to the pale grey. That will give me four skeins, so it will be a bit smaller than this one. I have a partial skein in a lovely purple-pink mix that will be great for the I-cord bind-off.

I’ve also been working on an Entrelac scarf for the mister in that Noro from the thrift store. I’ll show you that next week, whether it’s done or not. 🙂