Silk Shawl - Say WHAT??!!!

Ladies and gents, I introduce you to my first-ever shawl - the Beithe by Susanna IC on Ravelry.

ME????  How did I make it into a blog post???

This yarn is definitely a stash yarn - something I picked up years ago in Seattle at The Weaving Works.  It was the first silk I'd ever purchased (since then, I've only purchased silk blends), and it's a single ply....which is something NOW I'd never buy, as single ply is basically against my religion.  Single ply unto itself can be grabby/splitty, and the fact that it's SILK single ply...????  Yikes.

All turned out well, though.  I knew going into the pattern that this yarn wouldn't best represent, so to speak.  But I wanted something easy for my first shawl, and I didn't have a yarn that would work well for any pattern I could find in the right yardage.  I used Colinette Tao in colorway Marble, and it's lovely, though I'm not sure the photos capture it as well as they could (well, and my CRAZY GENIUS photography skills do NOT come into play, naturally).

The pattern is super easy to follow, and starts out with the lace edging then moves up through the stockinette with short row shaping.  I have NO idea how, but i miscounted at some point (I can only assume) and didn't have my short rows correct.  NO WAY/NO HOW was I going to rip out and figure out where I'd messed up - so, I fudged it and figured nobody would notice ;)

One SUPER SCORE from a weekend or so ago was a set of rubber mats to use as blocking mats.  I naturally printed out some Joann Fabric coupons and sprinted with the kids yesterday to buy T pins (and D rings...well...and a square of chocolate) for blocking.  I soaked the silk in plain water and blocked it out as best as my lazy self felt like doing....you can tell I'm no expert, and I don't own blocking wires, but I figured I was fine without those at this time, anyway.

I do have to say that I might wear this one a few times, but as it's white-ish and 100% silk, it might also be something I save for a special occasion for Camden down the road.  I'm glad I did it - and in record time:  12 days!  I am nervous to think about how long it'll take me to do the Bryce Canyon shawl, pictured below, for the marigoldjen KAL over July and August....as I also would like to join the KAL in Lete's Knits in August...lawds.  Too much to knit!

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