As a reminder: the pattern is Morvarch (Ravelry link) by Lucy Hague (designer’s link). The yarn I’m using is Yeoman Yarns Tibet 3-ply Tweed in Lagoon, purchased from Fankle Yarns.
I’ve shared this post as part of Unravelled Wednesday – with many thanks to Kat for hosting!
It’s turned into an unwieldy beast! The centre circle was so dainty and agreeable and well-defined… and now it’s on the straight needles and it will NOT lie flat for a photo. Look at all the crinkles and creases and bumphles (knowledgable opinions welcomed on the spelling of bumphle). I’m very curious about how the shawl will block out and hopeful that it will not remain rumpled forever.
Unwieldiness aside, the construction of this shawl is so interesting. First you make the centre circle – and that’s where I’d got to last update. Then, you make that circle into a square using short rows. You make two corners separately, then join them together and knit outwards for the first half of the shawl, ending with a lace edging.
Aside from a false start on the first corner, I rattled through the short rows in short order (see what I did there?). I do a wrap and turn for short rows, but am not in the habit of picking up the wrap on the way back. You can absolutely see where the turns are – in the photo below they’re almost like little cross-hatches – but they’re evenly spaced and I think look just fine as part of the overall pattern. And in fact if I didn’t know, I might not be able to tell you they’re caused by short rows. It’s not gappy, just a bit different.
Having not properly read ahead in the pattern (almost always an error), I was surprised to find that I was leaving the other two corners behind for now, and knitting 12 inches of stockinette. I won’t lie, I was disappointed to be leaving behind the more complex section – but I will say that splitting up the two plain expanses means I’m much less likely to get bored in the final stretch. I had also expected that I’d be more drawn to working on this shawl than on my cardigan – but this proved not to be true! Always interesting to get an insight into one’s own mind and motivators.
I’ve got through that stockinette (though I’m definitely not getting the suggested gauge, my 12 inches took faaaaaar more rows than suggested – but thankfully that’s not such a big deal with a shawl) and am now about to start the final five inches of lace edging. Again, a false start when I got to row six of the lace pattern and somehow didn’t have enough stitches… So I ripped back to the end of the stockinette for another go. There’s a stitch in the lace where you slip two as if to knit together, but don’t in fact knit them – I suspect muscle memory took over and I knitted a couple by accident.
I’ve tried to show the true colours of the yarn using only my the camera and photo editor on my phone. It’s always a challenge to get the lighting right, and you can tell that I’ve manipulated this image cos the pink flecks are very shouty, when in reality they’re subtle. The base is a muted teal, and there are lovely tiny flecks of blue and white as well as that pink.
It looks even more out of control in that close up. The light coming through the window makes every bump into a mountain range. I have faith in a soak and a steam once it’s done to smooth it all out into pleasant uniformity. So much faith. Hardly worried about it at all.
The Crafty Yarnster 