My Ishbel shawlette is done! It felt like it took no time at all; I just picked it up here and there when I got bored with the stockinette of my cardigan, and a few days ago I found myself magically finished. Last night I got a chance to block it, and here we are!
I knit the small size, which is quite small, especially with laceweight yarn. I even went down a needle size, from US 6 to US 5, because 6 just seemed crazy for such fine yarn. After blocking, it ended up being 15″ deep with a 49″ wingspan. I had quite a bit of yarn left over, and could probably have knit the large-size lace section, but I wasn’t in the mood for a nailbiter and I wanted this to be pretty small anyway since I mostly plan on wearing it as a scarf:
The yarn, to remind you, is Hedgehog Fibres Pure Cashmere, in the Sour Cherry colorway. As you perhaps recall, I had quite a bit of trouble figuring out what to do about its high level of variegation, trying a couple of different scarf patterns before deciding that this simple little shawlette was the answer. And I’m thrilled with it! This was my first experience with 100% cashmere, and it’s every bit as lovely as they say. So soft, so lightweight! Here’s a blocking shot, as usual rather poorly-lit:
The lace pattern is pretty easy; it’s helpful to remember that the k3togs always line up, though.
In the above pictures, though they’re not terribly easy to see, I am wearing my new favorite earrings. Here’s a close-up:
When I was a kid, like 6 or 7 years old, I had a favorite dress. It was made of jersey fabric — very comfortable — and had blue and white horizontal stripes with a red collar. I wore it all the time, but especially when I wanted to feel like a particularly awesome version of myself, such as when I sang along with my Wilson Phillips cassette tape and dreamed of becoming a B-list 80’s pop star. These earrings are sort of the grown-up version of that; they make me feel like myself in the most awesome way possible. I got them from Ply Effects on Etsy, which I recommend highly. Jennifer is an amazing metalsmith — she also made the beautiful spinner ring that I wear more or less all the time to try to manage my fidgeting habit. So I thought I’d spread the love by pointing you to her shop! Have a great afternoon, folks.