Part Two of the "Should'a Series" or The Working Shawl

So, yeah, I finished it. Sometime ago, really. In fact, only about a week after I last lamented about it. Took all of about 10 minutes to finish. Figures. Only then did I start to worry about my yarn choice. And rightfully so, as it turns out. When I blocked the "feather" rows, I could really feel the bounce-back of the yarn. I really had to tug to get the pattern to lay flat and with that much tension I started to figure the feathers were going to find their happy, bunchy place again once I pulled the pins from the shawl. Sure enough, they did and I really don't think re-blocking will change that. But, honestly, I'm not at all put off by the results. For one, the large-ish rib pattern at the top did benefit from the blocking and the YO's look pretty darn nice. And two, I'd already made the shawl one repeat short, intentionally, and I sorta' picked the yarn that I did so that I would be more inclined to "work" this shawl in the real world. It had to weather the weather, peanut and jelly sandwich fingers, and a regular pass through the washing machine. No doubt, acrylic yarn will do that like no mohair I know. So, I love it still. It wraps around my neck like a scarf, it's warm, I don't worry about my girls tugging at it and it still looks pretty good too.


Now, having said all that, I WILL use a better quality, more heirloom worthy yarn the next time that I knit lace....and I will knit lace again. A lot of it, I think. I've got my eye on a couple of sampler-type projects, in fact. So while, I should'a given myself more credit for being able to knit this pattern and not chintzed on my yarn choice in the first place, I am pleased with what was accomplished. Forward ho!