Notes: Odds and Ends Swallowtail Shawl

Project: Odds and Ends Swallowtail Shawl
Designer: Evelyn Clark
Source: Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca, sport-weight (120 yds/skein)
Amount used: 3 skeins (360 yds.)
Source for yarn: Knitche
Needles: size 8 24" and 40" Addi Turbo circulars
Gauge: not checked
Size after blocking: 58" wide by 25" long (measured at peak of triangle), sides 38" long each
Photos: taken at Fullersburg Woods, Illinois, on a Sunday during maple syrup season




If I had It to Do Over Again: I'm fairly satisfied with the result. I love the colors together, and I love that I used something that I had in the house instead of going out and accumulating more yarn. There's something virtuous about making do, and enjoying such a great end-result.
One change would be to use two skeins for the Budding Lace section of the shawl. I had only one skein of green and was allowing the amount of yarn to dictate the size of the shawl. Given how little yarn this used, it would be nice, the next time around, to make it a bit bigger. This size: good for draping around the shoulders, but not quite big enough to wrap oneself up in. Clark's original design is a small shawl, so I'm keeping with tradition. But my preference is for something wide and long enough to burrow into; maybe that's just me.

For those of us who like a very open, lacy shawl, I'd recommend going up to at least a size 10.5 or 11 needle with this yarn. Here, again, personal preference: I like a shawl that feels warm and has some weight and drape to it. Other knitters, in particular my teacher, prefer very open, gossamer-style lace, that just floats when you drape it around you.

My favorite part: the colors. Sorry to go on about this, but I'm delighted to have knit something not blue; to have put the green against the deep pink; to have the lilac (chosen by the owner of my LYS, when I was going with red as the border) being the just-right echo of the color in the middle sections. (I should mention that the green and the deep pink are old colors and no longer available; the border is Vivid Lilac, a current shade.)
If I can resist the urge to give this away immediately (what is knitting but instant gratification, after all?), I'm going to enter it into the little customer competition at my LYS and hope that I win something!