Finished object file: Bella Shawl

Bella Shawl: off the needles, blocked and ends woven in.

Last week I posted about the commissioned knit that I have been working on. The friend who I have been knitting this Bella Shawl for has been so gracious and patient; never putting pressure on me to quickly finish the project. Well it is with great joy that I have got the project off the needles, blocked, ends weaved in and ready to go to its lovely recipient.

An asymmetrical beauty.

I really enjoyed knitting this project because it was simple enough to memorise but the eyelet lace and asymmetrical direction of the shawl gave it a little bit more to keep my interest. It was something I could take bundle it up and take it around witnh me as a project on the go  and since I memorised the pattern I didn't need to look up the pattern whenever I was out and about.

I purchased 5 skeins of Louisa Harding Grace Hand dyed DK and that gave me approximately 500 metres of yarn to make a medium sized shawl. I made sure to use up as much yarn as possible since my friend was  paying for the skeins and I didn't want to have a substantial amount remaining. I knit 12 squares of eyelet lace on the left hand side of the shawl and added an extra garter ridge on the end of the right hand eyelet panel and this left me with only a few metres of yarn remaining.

The simple yet elegant eyelet lace edge.

The Louisa Harding yarn is a delightfully squishy and shiny single ply yarn. It is a beautiful variegated yarn of pinks and reds of berry tones. There is a little bit of colour variation between the skeins which the yarn label clearly warns about. It is recommended that skeins be alternated every couple of rows during knitting. I initially tried doing this and ended up starting the shawl three times. The first time I cast on I began alternating the skeins at a RS row but because the eyelet fringe is cast off after a set of 7 eyelets it meant that I would have to cut the yarn that I was alternating after each square. So, I frogged it and decided to try alternating the skeins at a WS row and that meant that I was carrying the yarn up the neck edge. I was doing this knit about 10 cms of the piece and decided I didn't like the look of the edge with this yarn being carried up while I was alternating between 2 skeins. So, third time I cast on I decided to just knit each skein up before changing to the next one. The variation is not too obvious in my humble opinion.

The merino silk blend was lovely to work with; it was smooth on the needles and not splitty at all which I was a bit afraid of since it is a singly ply yarn. The silk content gives the piece a beautiful drape and the merino in it helps it hold its shape. The yarn also held up well after frogging it 3 times but I did need to do it carefully otherwise it would snag and stick. Overall I think it is a lovely yarn base and the colours are delicious but it is a yarn that needs some care if frogging.

I am pleased with the results of this Bella Shawl and I am happy with the workmanship for this commission. I actually knit this without mistakes, not meaning I didn't make any because I did, but I did carefully back knit and fix anything that was wrong since I was making this on commission.

All ready to go.

So, there it is a Bella Shawl for a bella friend.