Aran Pocket Shawl - Finally Finished!

I seem to be working my way through Cheryl Oberle’s book “folk Shawls”. This is the second shawl and I have yarn ordered for another project from the book “Heartland Shawl”

This shawl was knit with Misti Alpaca 100 per cent baby alpaca yarn in pea green (color C815 200 meters to 100 grams). I did not find this to be a difficult pattern at all - though I did find that a row counter helped me keep track of what row I was on - so I could pick up the needles after leaving it alone for some time. I love the texture that this simple pattern affords. If I made another one I might use a yarn that is a bit heftier than the Misti Alpaca - although this way the shawl is lovely and soft. I think a thicker yarn would have given the pattern more definition (as the example in the book shows) and the pockets would not have a tendency to droop with something thicker.

This was worth making - and I am already enjoying using on cool mornings at work or nippy evenings at home! I got the yarn from Yarn.Com - it was on sale then. Jimmy Beans Wool is another great place to get the yarn from - and Ravelry is simply the best place to see other examples of the patter and projects. If you knot and are not a Ravelry member - you need to be !

What's On My Needles?

I have I have a couple of new yarns & projects to tell y'all about. First off - and only because I up loaded the photos that way- is a wonderful pattern from Louisa Harding's lovely book "Knitting Little Luxuries" that I borrowed from the library. I am, generally speaking, not much of a frou frou person, although truth be told, I always had a secret wish that I could be a girlie girl - you know someone with perfect nails & hair &, perhaps, even makeup. I never likes pastel colors, or pleats & fluff for me. I liked fitted jackets and jeans. Simple. I was the girl who loved to shoot tournament skeet, "drive" the sit upon lawn mower and do things things that were decidedly not girly girl. In my approaching dottage however, I have found that pink is indeed a tint that belongs on the color wheel, that a certain, very subdued bit of lace is not a bad thing and that I can secretly covet the things a la Louisa Harding and not feel guilty!
I saw this book and this beautiful glove pattern on Ravelry and fell in love. A little frou frou but not too much. Kollage yarns has a new yarn out called, oddly I thought, " 1/2 & 1/2". I heard the name and had to go to their webite to see what the yarn is made of and, sure enough, it's made from half milk! I can't fathom how they use milk protein with wool but they and it is a beautiful, soft combination that I think will show stitch defination to advantage. I am planning to use their deep blue for a pair of the elegant fingerless gloves Isn't this a lovely lttle wrap? I may just have to consider making this - which would mean that I might have to buy the book at some point - or borrow it from the library again for an extended period!
Ah! Shawls! I love shawls and I love making shawls. I have to admite to a fondness for Cheryl Oberle's Book "Folk Shawls". The first shawl pattern that I ever knit was made from left over Noru Kuryeon yarn and with a pattern from this book. Now I am, happily making the Aran Pocketed Shawl. I found this incredible Misty Alpaca yarn on Webs - and at an amazingly low price. This is a yarn that I just enjoy "petting". It's one of the softest Alpaca yarns that I have ever felt - and I admit to being an Alpaca or Alpaca- Silk fanatic. I have plans to work my way through several other wonderful shawl patterns - and maybe I will evben make a frou frou princess shawl of lacy yarn !