A Long Awaited Debut

A few weeks ago...ahem, back in November....I gave you a sneak peak, promising an official debut just as soon as I could get some good pictures. I claim holiday. Sorry!

In truth, I knew this one needed an outdoor photo shoot to show off the subtle color in the shawl. There was just no way I was going to be able to capture that indoors...and sadly there has been no way to capture it in all of the grey winter light we've had lately. It has been a rather dreary couple of months.

However, today brought a dusting of fresh snow which gave just enough contrast outside to do my favorite new shawl some justice.

And so, without further ado, let me introduce to you my Prairie Rose Shawl. It has already been worn on many occasions, and has quickly become my new favorite.

The design is by Evelyn A. Clark, published in The Knitter's Book of Wool. (And is largely why I snapped the book up just as soon as it hit the shelves upon publication.)

Yarn: Dream in Color Baby, 1 skein of November Muse

Needles: Addi Turbo, US 5 (3.75 mm) perhaps in a 24 inch

Time to Knit: Nov. 7-15, 2009

Mods: I added a couple of repeats to the pattern for a much bigger shawl so that I coulduse up as much of the yarn as possible.

Yarn Notes: It truly pains me to say this, but I don't know that I'll buy this yarn again. I adore Dream in Color, and have VERY positive experiences with both their Classy line and their Smooshy Sock yarn. (In fact, my other favorite shawl is made out of Smooshy.) Even better, their colors are to die for...with just enough variation to make the work and the finished piece interesting without so much that it drowns out whatever pattern you are working with. However, the skein of Baby I had proved to be very inconsistent in diameter. In fact, it was so thick and thin that one would almost think it was designed that way. The finished shawl has what some people think of as a 'handspun' look to it, and I am concerned about several points where the yarn was so thin that it looked fragile. I'm really hoping I just had a bad skein, but it was enough to make me very distrustful of the yarn.