Another cowl

Just another cowl!  That's what I've been up to these days.  I purchased 137 grams of alpaca/Birds of Paradise Silk at the Sheep Dog Trials this past summer with the intentions of making another shawl.  The fibre was a very pretty grey alpaca with silk dyed blue, purple and I think pink carded into it on a drum carder.  I decided to spin it worsted, which means keeping the twist out of the draft zone.  I began to notice that the single of yarn was becoming what I hate to call "barber pole."  A very nice color for socks or even scarves or mittens but not for shawls.  So a change of plans!  I had a good friend have a look to see what she thought and she said she thought I should ply it 3 ply.  what a great idea!  This would give the finished yarn more spots of color throughout, hopefully filling in the colors.  It worked, it really worked!  I didn't get the yardage needed for a shawl but what I came up with was 420 yards of a very pretty blue/purple yarn with hints of pink throughout. Enough for this cowl and maybe even a pair of mittens to match!

                                                     

                                                Finished the mittens   
                                              Thanks for visiting!

Barad Dur shawl a bit of a disappointment

If you're planning to knit this shawl using the written instructions don't.  They are different from the chart.   The charted instructions are correct but I'm still waiting for the designer to get back to me with her erratas on the written instructions!
It's been an okay knit but because of the kfb stitches in row 19, I've had to put in a safety line after row 18.  It's very easy to make mistakes at row 20 because of all the k2tog and ssk stitches.  And correcting mistakes at this row is very hazardous to your health, or anyone else's who might be in the room/house, if you don't have a saftey line in place.  Just sayin!

I spun  some  wine/brown corriedale fibre purchased from Rose Haven Farms in Picton, Ontario for this shawl.  What a great fibre this is, the colour is so rich.  Actually I don't really know the color, at the store in the lights I thought I was purchasing red, when I got home it appeared wine and in the night lights it appears brown.  So it's a mystery, and I love a mystery!

Can't wait to wear this shawlette this fall/winter, who knows what color it will be in that light!

                                                       
                                                 Thanks for visiting!