Long-awaited debut

She's been waiting so patiently, this beautiful scarf-shawl of recent completion, to be shown off to her advantage in the blogosphere. I was a harried knitter, recalcitrant blogger, and spending my time being the busiest woman in public school show biz, but we're all ready for our debut: This was a fun, fun, lovely, lovely knitting project because the pattern is easy and creates a beautiful texture, and because the yarn color and hand is so rewarding.

Pattern: Clementine Shawlette from Interweave Knits, Spring 2007

Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle in "Vergissmeinnicht" (Forget-me-not)
Yarn enabler: The Loopy Ewe, September 2007
Knit on: One 40" Knitpicks Size 3 Circular Needle

Time spent knitting when I should have been eating more vegetables: Oct. 3rd-31, 28 Days.
Size: 72 inches by 8 inches.

So, a little bit about my process and alterations. First of all, I did not knit this in the weight of yarn called for (I went for fingering instead of DKish-sportish), so it turns out to be more of a scarf than a shawl. If I were to do it again, I'd probably have gone two more repetitions wider and lived with a shorter shawl, though I do like the length I have.

The pattern calls for knitting two identical pieces, both starting from what I call the 'teardrop' ends and then grafting the two pieces together to form the middle seam. In order to be sure they actually were identical and that I would use up all the coveted yarn, I knit both halves simultaneously, one feeding from the outside of the ball of yarn and one feeding from inside the ball of yarn.. I just kept knitting until I was out of yarn--like when Lady and the Tramp both inhale the same strand of spaghetti and end up kissing. (Did any of y'all actually catch that reference?!?!?) I was dreading kitchenering the two together along some 70 stitches or so. In the end, I decided to do a three-needle bind off. I had meant to do a 'reverse' three-needle bind-off so that I'd have a purl bump row that reflected the pattern, but I couldn't to it because of where I was in the pattern or where the yarn was or something. In the end, I liked the result and the ease of execution, so I'm sticking with it!

I hate to add to the whole Wollmeise craze, but holy cow, I love this yarn. I know some feel it's splitty. I am not one of those people. Some think it's a little cottony even though it's 100% superwash merino. I say cottony in a good way--i.e. fairly smooth, even a little slick, and not itchy. And it's hard to see in the pictures, but the lapis blue of this colorway is kissed with teal green that just adds to the depth of color. I would advise you to buy Wollmeise, but only if you buy some for me at the same time or at least get the hell out of my way as I rush the e-commerce doors of any establishment that is carrying it. It might be worth a trip to Germany....